


you have to know that by now

by glittergelpens



Category: My Time At Portia (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Daddy Issues, Friends to Lovers, Good Friends, M/M, Miscommunication, Oblivious Arlo, Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2019-11-14 06:23:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 38,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18047225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glittergelpens/pseuds/glittergelpens
Summary: Avery Lee doesn’t fall in love. He gets crushes and he reads romance novels, sure. He’ll offer his hand, yes, but never anything more, knowing that if he offers his heart someone could go walking off with it.That is, until Avery realizes that his heart has handed itself over. Arlo has waltzed in and pocketed it without a second thought, leaving Avery stranded in unfamiliar territory. He just wants to make it out of this without damaging their friendship, but Arlo’s been looking at him too closely lately for him to slip by unnoticed.





	1. golden hour

The trees were finally turning colors. A crisp, orange leaf drifted onto the grass, landing near Avery’s hand. He picked it up and sighed, showing it to Arlo.  
“Guess it’s really autumn now, huh?” he mumbled. Arlo smirked and took it from him.  
“I thought you liked autumn?” He turned over the leaf in his hand before letting it go on a breeze. It drifted out and landed gently in the water.  
“I mean- I do. Don’t get me wrong. I love autumn. It’s just-” he gazed around, watching the river slide by. “It’s bittersweet, I guess, having to let go of summer in the same breath.” Arlo hummed sympathetically, leaning his weight back on his arms as he turned his eyes to the sky.  
“I would pretend I understood if I didn’t hate summer. _Way_ too hot.” Avery chuckled quietly as he flopped back into the grass.  
“You know you’re not like, legally obligated to wear eight layers, right?” Arlo shot him an offended look, and a surprised laugh bubbled out of Avery's chest.  
“I’m only wearing three,” he insisted.  
“Arlo. You’re wearing a scarf.”  
“It’s a _bandana!_ ”  
Avery’s laughter rung out over Amber Island. When he reopened his eyes, he saw Arlo gazing over his shoulder at him with an entertained and immensely caring look softening his eyes, his lips quirked up at the edges in a gentle smile. The slowly setting sun cast the tips of his hair in golden light, and Avery drew in a breath and held it there for a moment while the familiar rush coursed through to his fingertips.  
“You’re weird,” Arlo mumbled, but he said it with a warm smile and only fondness in his voice. Avery simmered in it and took a deep breath of the crisp air. Arlo turned back to look at the sun- it was low in the sky, maybe a half hour until sunset- and then stood, stretching languidly. “We should head back towards town, I’ve got some Corps stuff to do with Sam and Remy yet tonight.” He offered Avery his hand, and Avery pouted.  
“What, you don’t want to stay and watch the sunset? Pinnacle of romance,” he insisted. A snide smile curled his lips, passing the hidden truth off as a joke. Arlo grinned.  
“You know I’m busy,” he chided. Avery rolled his eyes.  
“You mean _boring_. Is there a romantic bone in your body?” he asked. And yet, Avery took Arlo’s hand, relishing both the rough warmth of his palm and the ease with which he was lifted to his feet. He hoped that in the waning light Arlo wouldn’t notice him blushing.  
“Thanks,” he mumbled as they ambled to the bridge. Arlo just smiled.  
Across the bridge, Avery looked down the path to Central Plaza, flanked by lush green fields and peacefully grazing llamas.  
“Shall we take the scenic route?” he suggested, hopeful. Arlo shrugged.  
“Dee-Dee will be faster,” he pointed out. Avery pursed his lips.  
“Right. Yeah, we can take a dee-dee then.”  
\---  
Stepping off of the dee-dee in Central Plaza, Avery waved to Arlo as they parted ways- Arlo towards the stairs on the north edge of the plaza, and Avery towards the shops. He liked to check in with them all- Mars, Carol, and Paulie- not only because they were always breaking things, but because they were kind people. He didn’t mind being called “smallish” by Paulie when it was accompanied with a friendly smile, a pat on the back, and an occasional bonus commission.  
He continued toward Peach Plaza, taking his time ambling along as the light turned golden around him. He thought about Arlo, soft and fond and ringed by that light, and he thought of the delicate halo it made out of the windswept tips of his fiery hair. He sighed, low and slow, wondering if the sun was setting yet. _I shouldn’t be disappointed,_ he knew. _He doesn’t even know I’m into him- I'm sure he thought I wanted to stay because I didn’t want to get up._ He approached Alice’s flower stand and leaned a hand against the wall.  
“Hiya hiya,” he greeted her. She looked up from her floral arrangements and smiled.  
“Oh, hi Ave. I’ll be done here in about fifteen minutes- you can head along without me if you want,” she offered. They met with Emily at the workshop every Wednesday evening, when they were all done working for the day. Avery shrugged.  
“No, that’s fine, I’ll kick back here with you for a little bit. Is Jack around?” She shook her head.  
“No, he’s at Toby’s place.” Avery hummed. He pulled up one of Alice’s chairs and sat down, leaning back and looking up over the buildings at the sky.  
“Was looking like the makings of a gorgeous sunset tonight,” he sighed. “Too bad we can’t see it from here.” Alice smirked.  
“Oh, please. We both know you’d rather see it with _Arlo,_ ” she crooned, drawing out the _A_ teasingly. Avery threw a dramatic hand back on his forehead as he shot her a sour look.  
“You know, I actually _tried_ to get him to stay for the sunset this time. I really did- I used my words, like am an emotionally competent adult. He had to leave to do Civil Corps things, though, like some big, lame… _financially_ competent adult.” Alice sighed wistfully.  
“He probably didn’t realize your intentions,” she remarked. “That’s how it always is in romance novels, at least. Miscommunication and oblivious love interests are _prime_ romance material.” Avery rolled his eyes.  
“Frustrating as hell in real life, though,” he shot back. She shrugged.  
“Makes you feel things. Good emotion. Makes for a better plot.” Avery laughed.  
“Alice, if my inability to say what I want and Arlo’s inability to understand what I _do_ say make this a better plot, then you have the makings of an award-winning novel on your hands. I don’t know how well your audience will take it when the book doesn’t have a happy ending, though, so maybe not.” Alice eyed him.   
“What makes you say that?” she asked carefully. He rolled his eyes.   
“I mean- have you _seen_ him? Big, tall, strong, brave, _gorgeous_ \- and not only is he the head of the Corps, he’s angling to go to Lucien, remember?” She hummed in affirmation. “Let’s say- let’s get into the hypotheticals, then, yeah? Let’s say Arlo is attracted to dudes, and he one day suddenly understands all of the hints I’ve dropped and falls madly in love. He’s still not going to want to get tied down when Portia isn’t where his heart is set.” Alice sighed, her eyes lost in her bouquets of roses.   
“I think it could still work, though,” she insisted. Avery laughed.   
“How?” he asked. She shrugged.   
“I don’t know, Ave. That’s for you to find out, not me. But I think it could work.” He smiled, weary but touched by her optimism.   
“Okay, sure. It can work. We don’t know how, but it can work. And when everything magically resolves itself, when he shows up on my doorstep in a strapping tuxedo and spirits me off to our beach wedding at sunset… “ They locked gazes, and a mischievous light shone in his eyes. “Then you can make a bestseller out of my love story.”  
They both giggled quietly over that, but Avery didn’t tell her that he was laughing because he’d imagined his wedding being interrupted by a dolphin. _I wonder if dolphins can be trained to be ring bearers?_  
Alice’s laughter tapered off, and she gazed over her shoulder at her flower displays thoughtfully. She turned and grazed her fingers over the stock of heart knots delicately, remembering the hours she’d spent dying the fabric and knotting it carefully. She felt for the one that she believed was her best work, turned it over in her hands, and then held it out to Avery.  
“You’ll need one of these, then. Free of charge, for a loyal customer- I’ll make it back a million-fold with that book.” Avery stared at it, face blank, and then turned away uncomfortably.  
“I… No thanks, Alice. It’s just a crush. I’m not… I don’t want to go messing with his head just because I got a crush,” he protested. Alice narrowed her eyes.  
“Just a crush? Avery, how long have you had a thing for him?” He huffed, shrugging defensively.  
“Since I met him? I mean, have you _seen_ him? But that doesn’t mean anything- I get crushes on _everybody_. I had a crush on you for like- what, a month? Same with Emily, and Remington, and Sonia, and Xu, and Phyllis, and Mint, and Ginger, and Mei, and _almost_ Gust but then he opened his mouth and _wow_ he’s so rude.” Alice laughed.  
“Come on, though, Ave- those other ones are long gone by now, right? And you’ve still got a thing for Arlo... It’s at least worth considering.” He grumbled, blushing, and looked up at the sky again. A splash of pink and orange from the sunset bled into the blue above them. She sighed and returned the knot to her stand.  
All was quiet for a minute while Alice rearranged her displays, tucking the flowers and trinkets back to be locked away for the evening. The clock wound down, the display was closed and locked, her chair was folded and propped against the wall. She turned to Avery, who was still looking up at the sky, lost in thought. He sighed and closed his eyes- the sky had long returned to blue, and it was beginning to shade darker.  
“Ready, then?” he asked.  
“Yeah, I’m sure Emily’s wondering what’s taking us so long by now.”  
“Let her wonder. Maybe we’ve run off and eloped,” he offered with a shrug. Alice laughed.  
“Oh, please. That’s not your style.”  
“It is yours, though.”  
“Can’t deny that.” He looked up at her, and she down at him, and when she took his hand to help him up he felt a surge of gratitude for her presence in his life.  
“You know I love you, right?” he said, dropping her hand to fold the chair. She smiled.  
“I know. I love you, too. I might just have to marry you if Arlo doesn’t.” Avery groaned, and Alice’s laugh bounced carefree through the cool evening air.


	2. maybe i can

Avery went about his days as usual.  
He rose early, he worked hard, he fought hard, he ached hard, and he fell hard into bed.  
But there was something off about his routine as of late, and it was that he absolutely for the life of him could not get Arlo out of his head. Something had shifted- something had changed inside Avery when he’d brushed that heart knot in Alice’s hands. When he’d been presented with the means to forge a relationship. When he’d been presented with the possibility- what if this isn’t just a crush, what if there’s something more to this, and what if this could be serious.  
He spent a lot more time staring into the middle distance lately.  
It really wasn’t a happy change; Avery was anxious. He was so anxious, he felt he might hurl when he thought about it too long. He hadn’t been in a relationship since he was twelve, and that had lasted a week. Sure, he’d dated. He dated a lot, actually, and he got a lot of crushes. But they all went away- he wasn’t the type to really sink in and get comfortable in his feelings for someone else. He always had to leave first. He always had to maintain his distance. He always had to give no more than his hand, because if he gave his heart they might go walking off with it.  
He stared up at the sky and sighed. His furnaces were all roaring, his machines all churning, and he was left with nothing to do for the next few hours. He looked out to the fields behind his house. He could go hunting and get some more fur, he was getting low. He looked back at the gate to Peach Plaza. _Or I could wander into town and see if anyone has small jobs to do._ He grabbed his bag, hiked it up onto his shoulders, and trekked towards town, giving Scraps some pats on the way out.  
He’d already taken his daily commission from the commerce guild, and there were no broken machines or overcommitted orders from any of the stores. The school, research center, and newspaper were all functioning like a well-oiled machine, and he groaned to himself as he ambled out of the Portia Times empty-handed. He checked his watch- he wouldn’t have enough materials to move forward with the commission for at least a couple more hours. This would be fine on a normal day- he appreciated his downtime. But today, he was antsy. He felt like he had to keep himself busy at all times, to keep from thinking about-  
Avery’s eyes were caught by a flash of ginger and blue, and his heartbeat spiked as he locked eyes with Arlo across the plaza. He tried to slink away, but Arlo was already waving and making his way over with a smile on his face. Avery gulped.  
“Hey, Ave!” he said with a grin as he approached. He clapped him on the shoulder, hand lingering. “I was just on my way to go ask you something!”  
“Oh, uh, what’s up?” he asked. The warmth of Arlo’s palm seemed to seep through to his skin even through the layers of clothes separating them. Avery’s mind was whirling. _Calm down,_ he told himself. _It’s just Arlo._  
“Well, you’re one of the most active fighters in town aside from us in the Corps, and we’ve been noticing some odd mutations in some of the monsters nearby, and … “  
They ambled towards the workshop as Arlo talked, but he never took his hand from Avery’s shoulder. Avery found that he really didn’t want him to. As they passed the flower shop, he made the mistake of locking eyes with Alice, who looked much too pleased.  
“Hey! Avery, can I talk to you for just a second?” she called. Arlo paused and lifted his hand, gesturing him over while he waited on the other side of the path.  
“Alice, what is it, can’t you see I’m-”  
“Give me your bag.”  
“What?”  
“Just for a second. Please, it’s important.” He rolled his eyes and shrugged it off, handing it over. She turned around and rustled around for a moment before turning back around and giving it back.  
“What did you take?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.  
“I didn’t take anything.” She glanced over at Arlo, made sure he wasn’t paying attention, and lowered her voice. “I dropped a heart knot in your bag. I made sure nobody saw. Free of charge.” Avery froze.  
“Wh- _Alice, I’m not going to-_ ” She stepped back, grabbed him by the shoulders, and turned him back towards Arlo.  
“Consider it a bonus gift for a loyal customer,” she whispered in his ear. She raised her voice to call, “Okay, Arlo, he’s all yours again! You two have a good day!”, before pushing him out towards the road again.  
After shooting her a dirty look over his shoulder and whispering “oh, we are _discussing_ this later,” he turned and smiled sheepishly up at Arlo, who appeared blissfully oblivious. Arlo smiled, warm and handsome, and Avery felt himself melt a little as Arlo put his hand back on his shoulder as they continued on. “So, I was wondering if you could help us keep an eye on the monsters, keep a record, report any anomalies… “  
The small knot in his bag made it feel impossibly heavier, like she’d added a brick instead.  
...  
And yet.  
He looked up at Arlo and felt the comforting weight of his hand on his shoulder, watched the animated way in which he spoke, gesturing widely with his free hand. He looked at his shining blue eyes, and when Arlo noticed him staring, he smiled at him- so full of warmth, so different from the cool and calculated facade he’d presented when they met- and Avery felt his anxieties begin to ebb, bit by bit.  
_Maybe this could turn out alright._  
\---  
A week later, he found himself sitting at Alice’s flower stand with her again, sipping herbal teas while the sky bled pink. They were chatting about her book- an epic romance in the makings, with a knight and a damsel in distress- when Sam approached.  
“Hey there, you two,” she started, eyeing Avery in particular. “You here to buy some flowers for Arlo, Ave? He’s been mopey today- My bet is it’s ‘cause you haven’t been around in a while,” she suggested with a grin. He rolled his eyes with a smile, careful not to betray the flutter in his chest or the fact that he could feel Alice’s enthusiastic stare boring holes into the side of his head.  
“He’s a big kid, Sam. He’ll be okay. But I’ll swing by sometime soon if you think it’ll help.” She chuckled and made her purchase, ambling off with no idea the turmoil she’d wrought in her wake. As soon as she passed around the corner, Avery groaned and leaned his face into his hands to hide his blush. Alice was giddy.  
“Avery- you heard her! Even if she’s half joking, that’s only half!” He rolled his eyes and took a long sip of his tea; it was beginning to cool. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, taking on a more serious bearing. “Okay, Avery- I know you keep that knot in your backpack-”  
“You SNOOPED?” he squealed, nearly choking on his tea-  
“Oh hush, I was looking for chapstick,” she insisted. She took a smaller sip of her tea. “But I mean, yeah, I snooped. But just…” She paused, gesturing up in the general direction of the Civil Corps building. “Go talk to him, yeah?” Avery pouted as he leaned his chin in his hand. He considered it.  
_I don’t actually feel more anxious than alive at the thought of it_ , he noticed. He paused, and looked in the direction she’d pointed. He sighed. _If I don’t do it now… Maybe I never will._ He looked back at Alice, a determined glint in his eye, and slammed back the last of his tea before setting it dramatically on the table.  
“Fuck it, I’m gonna do it,” he declared, already standing. Alice gasped, hands clasped to her mouth in near disbelief. He moved fast before he lost his momentum, already putting his bag on to leave.  
“Oh, my god- you’ve got this, Avery! I believe in you!” she called after him. He walked halfway to the street, paused, then turned around and hugged Alice where she sat.  
“Thank you,” he mumbled. She patted his head and hummed.  
“You can do it, Ave,” she insisted. He nodded and turned, leaving before he could change his mind.  
_Maybe she’s right._  
Maybe I can.   
\--  
He took the stairs instead of the dee-dee, which may have been a mistake if only because it gave him more time to overthink. He faltered once as a wave of anxiety gripped him, but he steeled himself and kept walking. _I can’t stop walking_ , he told himself. _If I stop walking I’ll turn around. I can’t stop moving forward._ He marched dutifully up every flight of stairs and slowed down when he approached the Civil Corps building instead of fleeing like he wanted to. He steeled himself as he marched inside.  
The lobby was empty. He stopped.  
“Hello?” he called- he’d expected Arlo to be wailing on his training dummy. He gazed around, up the stairs, but he didn’t see Remy or Sam, either. He approached Arlo’s bedroom and knocked on the door- it creaked open. He peered his head in. “Arlo?” he tried again. The room was empty. He huffed and closed the door, turning to look over the Corps building again.  
_What do I do now?_ He thought. _After all of that momentum, do I just… leave? Do I wait here?_ He eyed the couches, but he knew he’d chicken out if he just sat and waited for Arlo to return. He sighed, long and deep, feeling a bit of tension leave him even as disappointment crept in to replace it. _I guess I can come back tomorrow_ , he told himself, and he headed back towards the front door.  
As the door shut behind him, he looked out at the horizon from the high vantage point and felt a pang as he realized he’d just missed the sunset. The sun’s glow still illuminated the sky, but it had dipped below the horizon while he was inside. He frowned and started back towards home when he heard laughter behind him.  
He froze. _Arlo?_ He whirled around- it was coming from the side of the building. He walked around the corner and peered back before being immediately frozen in his tracks.  
He’d found Arlo; but he’d also found Nora.  
Arlo was leaning up against the well, his posture more open and comfortable than he’d ever seen it. And nestled up close, not touching but nearly, with a reverently intent look on her face, was Nora. Avery’s chest felt distinctly cold inside; they were _much_ too close for his liking. I have to go home, he thought, but as he took a step back, Arlo spotted him.  
“Avery!” he called, waving him over.  
“Uh- hello Arlo, Nora,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant as he approached.  
“Hi, Avery!” Nora said with a smile. He smiled back at her. _Act normal. Act normal for Nora. She’s sweet. Don’t weird her out._  
“So I was just telling Nora about what happened at the WOW Industries- you know, when you and Sam went in there because of the pollution?” Avery nodded along. “But- I wasn’t even there. Would you mind taking over the story?” he offered. Avery swallowed, but the lump in his throat wouldn’t move.  
“I, uh…” He looked at their expectant expressions and sighed internally. “I’m really sorry, you guys, but I’m actually not… I’m not feeling very well lately. I’m up here to get some medicine from Xu,” he lied. “I really should be getting home.” He stared resolutely at his feet. Arlo clapped him on the shoulder again, but instead of warmth, Avery felt cold.  
“That’s alright, you get some rest,” he said, concerned. “Let me know if you need anything, okay?” Avery swallowed and started to turn around.  
“Yeah, uh, I will. Sorry again.”  
He walked the whole way home instead of marching. 

As he came out of the Peach Plaza gates, he spotted Emily and Alice perched on the stone wall of the field, waiting for him expectantly. He sighed. _Of course Alice told her already._  
“Avery!” called Emily, standing to meet him. “How did it-” she stopped, noticing the slump in his shoulders and the downtrodden look he carried. “Oh, honey,” she murmured. He dropped his head on her shoulder and she hugged him gently. Alice didn’t stand, but took his hand that hung near her and rubbed circles into his palm.  
“He said no?” she asked. Avery shook his head.  
“I didn’t ask,” he said, muffled by Emily’s shoulder.  
“You were so sure when you left, though.”  
“I got up there and found him all cozied up with Nora. I could hardly say shit after that.” Emily hissed in a pained breath on his behalf.  
“Yikes,” she sighed. He nodded. She rubbed circles into his back. “Do you want to get drunk about it?” she offered.  
“I told them I was sick so I could go home,” he objected. “If I’m out at the Round Table they’ll know I was lying.” Emily thought about it.  
“We could always go pick up the alcohol and get drunk in the workshop,” Alice proposed. Avery stood, pulling his head from Emily’s shoulder.  
“That sounds amazing.” Emily nodded.  
“I’ll go get it. You two go inside and warm up.” They shuffled inside, Avery pulling out his spare blankets and pillows from the side room and heaping them next to the couch while Alice cleared off the bar. When she finished, she noticed Avery sat on the couch, head propped on one hand, staring into the fireplace. She sighed and gathered up a blanket, throwing it over her shoulders before sitting next to Avery and wrapping him in it as well. He leaned his head on her shoulder and she chose not to speak, letting him work through his feelings in quiet.  
A few minutes later, he groaned loudly.  
“This _sucks_ ,” he declared. She hummed.  
“You’ll get through it.”  
“I know. But it sucks right now.”  
“It probably will for a while. But you’re tough. You don’t have to be okay right now. Just know that you will be.” She rubbed his back and pretended not to notice when he wiped at his eyes.  
“Yeah, I know.”


	3. delving in

It took a while to pass. The lump of anxiety had formed in his chest and settled there, tightening his lungs as he breathed and hurting his heart as it beat. He kept moving, though- aside from assembling, he was lucky to have a job that was, for the most part, mindless work. Loading and unloading the furnaces, counting up his steel bars, loading up his grinders and saws with materials- he willingly lost himself in the labor and let his mind go blank. At the very least, he was being more productive than usual. His workshop output increased quite dramatically, and when he ran out of commissions, he threw himself into the mines or built furniture for his house or to sell in the market. For his workshop ranking, it was a blessing- his lead on Higgins doubled.   
But when he woke up on the third day since the incident, he knew it was time to let it pass. He felt groggier, but as though the fog that had plagued him had lifted. The lump in his chest was a bit lighter. He stood up and headed for the shower, ready to start moving on.   
As he worked that day, he thought about Arlo.   
_I guess it was rude of me to bail so fast when I hadn’t seen him in a week_ , he thought. _Even if I got hurt. He can’t have known. ...I should apologize._ He glanced over his yard, made sure all of his machines were churning, and then walked over to his cooking pot and cracked his knuckles. _Lunch. Lunch is a good apology._   
\---  
Lunchtime found Avery stepping off of a dee-dee at the stop next to the Civil Corps. He ambled down and hesitated at the doors, reluctant to face Arlo again but determined to not let it affect their friendship. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he opened the doors and entered.   
This time, Arlo was where Avery had expected him: wailing on the training dummy. At first, he hardly glanced at the door, but when he saw Avery he perked up and dropped his fists.   
“Oh, Avery! I’ve been hoping you’d stop by soon,” he said. Avery smiled.   
“What, you couldn’t come down to my workshop yourself?” Arlo huffed.  
“I mean, I’ve been-”   
“Busy, I know. Me, too. It’s all good. So what’s up?” he asked, ambling in past him towards the couches. Arlo stretched his arms and sighed.   
“Actually, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something. Something kind of… personal.” Avery stared openly, caught off guard. While they’d gotten quite close since Avery moved to Portia, Arlo never talked personal. They talked future, not past, and not… feelings. Avery recovered from his surprise and held up the container in his hands.   
“I brought noodles. Let’s do this.” Arlo’s face broke into a smile, and Avery felt a stubborn warmth blossom in his chest. He sighed internally, resigned to it for now. 

They settled into Arlo’s room, for privacy’s sake. Arlo sat on his bed, Avery in his desk chair. Arlo popped open the pasta dish-   
“Ave, seafood pasta? This is my favorite, thank you-”   
And once the dish was set on the desk, it felt official. They were prepared to talk about… something. Avery wasn’t sure what. He braced himself, just in case. Arlo began by not knowing where to begin, and then finally decided and took a deep breath.   
“So, I’m at a bit of a loss right now, honestly,” he began. “I was hanging out with Nora a few nights ago, and she confessed to me.” Avery froze, his eyes trained on the pasta.   
“Oh?” he squeaked out.   
_Oh my god I am not ready for this._   
“Yeah. Like, the whole nine yards. Apparently, she already thought we were a thing, but… I honestly just thought we were hanging out this whole time,” he admitted. Avery nodded stiffly. Arlo didn’t notice and barrelled on. “I never thought about her that way before, honestly- she was just a friend, a good audience for my stories. Honestly, I kind of thought of her as a little sister. But I’m not great at recognizing this sort of stuff- I’m not sure what to do.” Avery’s mouth had gone dry, and he sensed that he might be expected to speak soon, so he quickly forked a bite of pasta into his mouth to buy more time. “Do you have any… I don’t know, any thoughts on this?” He asked with a chuckle. “I’m taking input, seriously. I’m really at a lost, but I’ve left her three days without a response now.”   
_Three days… this must have happened right after I left._ The anxious lump in his chest throbbed, and he tried to ignore its pressure on his lungs. _I was too slow. She beat me to it._  
“I mean… you said you’d never thought of her like that before, yeah?” Arlo nodded. “Are you sure you aren’t, like… trying to think yourself into being attracted to her?” Arlo gave him a confused look.   
“I… what?”   
“Okay, yeah, give me a second, I have to learn to speak English again.” He ran his hands down his face, combing through his words and trying to figure out how to string them together properly. It took him a moment to figure out how to articulate it. “If you’ve never… If you’ve never felt romantically towards her before, but now that she’s made her feelings known you’re thinking back and overanalyzing trying to find a time you’ve been attracted to her, are you actually attracted to her, or are you trying to convince yourself that you are to avoid hurting her feelings?” Arlo blinked at him.   
“Huh.” Avery raised an eyebrow. “I hadn’t considered that,” Arlo admitted. “But, at the same time, every time I’ve ever been involved in… romance, I didn’t realize that I had feelings for someone until I thought back on it. It’s not something I’m very attuned to, to be honest.” Avery raised his eyebrows.   
“We are _exact_ opposites, Arlo.” Arlo laughed. “But, think about it- those other people you were with, did you think of any of them as little sisters before you realized you had feelings for them? That’s a bit extreme.” Arlo grimaced at that.   
“You have a point,” he admitted. Avery sighed and looked up at the ceiling. _I’m being too hard on Nora, aren’t I?_ He realized. _God, Arlo’s trusting me. I’m being a shitty friend._ He gulped.  
“I mean- Nora is a nice girl. Really- one of the sweetest people in Portia. It’s just… Even if you don’t want to upset her, you have to put yourself first, you know? If you jump into something too soon and then realize later that you don’t actually want to be with her, it’ll be worse than letting her down gently now.”   
Arlo stared into his noodles. “I see what you mean. I… I don’t know, I’ll think about it some more.” Avery nodded. The anxious knot in his chest felt huge. _Is this actually legitimate advice, or is this me being jealous?_ He thought. _I can’t even tell anymore. God, am I being manipulative?_ He swallowed nervously.   
“While we’re on the topic, though,” Arlo started, “what’s going on in your love life? I don’t think we’ve talked about it before.” Avery’s stomach plummeted. He laughed nervously.   
“Ah, no, I don’t think we have,” he agreed, voice high and anxious as he wrung his hands. “Um… to be honest with you, it’s really complicated and it blew up in my face recently. _Quite_ recently.” He sighed, wondering how much to let on. “...And the object of my affections hasn’t even noticed, to my knowledge.” Arlo grimaced.   
“Yikes, sorry I brought it up. You don’t have to talk about it. I hope she gets her head out of her ass soon, though,” he tried. Avery laughed airily again.   
“Um, he.”   
“Hm?”  
“It’s a dude. I’m, uh…” He stared resolutely at the floor. “I’m into a dude.” Arlo paused only briefly before it clicked.   
“Ohh, my bad. I hope _he_ gets his head out of his ass soon, then.”   
Avery smiled softly, if a bit sadly.   
“Yeah. Me too.”   
\---

A few days later, Avery walked out of his workshop, ready to start a productive day and finish a few commissions he’d gathered. He hummed to himself as he flipped through his notepad, ambling towards his furnaces as he tallied up all the metals he needed to smelt. Just before he could begin unloading his furnaces from the night before, however, a voice called his name. He turned to see Mint walking down the road from town, waving to him. He pocketed his notepad and walked to meet him at the gate.   
“Hey, Mint,” he called.   
"Hey Avery, sorry to bother you so early. We're having an issue with the Eufaula tunnel, can you come by and take a look?" Avery furrowed his brows.   
“What kind of issue?” He asked. Mint shrugged.   
“We’re not sure, there’ve been multiple quakes since we started drilling. I’ve halted the excavation for now. The Civil Corps’ also checking it out, but I want a builder’s opinion.” Avery hummed, not exactly wanting to go but knowing that he should.  
“I’ll head down once I get all of my machines running here,” he decided. “Won’t be too long. Couple hours, max.” Mint nodded.   
“Thanks. I’ll see you there.”   
Avery turned back to his yard and sighed. _Just one more thing to do. Shouldn’t take me too long._ He pulled his notepad back out, trying to find his train of thought again. 

\---

A half an hour later, Avery was halfway there, stepping off of the dee-dee at the Eufaula bridge. He pulled his coat tighter around himself. _For a desert, it gets really damn cold here in autumn._ He began the trudge across the sand, his body aching from a dive into the hazardous ruins the day before. He’d grabbed his bag thoughtlessly on his way out, but now regretted not sorting through it: it was still weighed down with food and medicines that he wouldn’t be needing. He sighed, apologized internally to his back, and continued trudging between the sandy dunes.   
When he finally arrived, he waved halfheartedly to Remington and tried to walk past him into the tunnel, only for Remington to throw out an arm and block his way.   
“Wh- Remy?” he asked, confused.   
“Hold it there,” he started, nudging him back a few inches. “I can’t let you in. Arlo and Sam are in there, trying to figure out what’s causing the quakes.” Avery frowned.   
“Yeah, I know. Mint came by this morning and asked me to come take a look, too.” Remington shook his head.   
“No can do. Arlo’s orders. Until they can figure out the quakes, nobody goes in.” Avery groaned and finally turned to face him.   
“I did _not_ trot my ass across the desert _and_ get sand in my shoes to get stopped by that punk,” he insisted. Remy didn’t drop his arm, but he didn’t hide the smile on his face, either.   
“Ave, you know I can’t just let you past. I can’t go against Arlo’s orders.” Avery rolled his eyes.   
“Bring him out here, then. I’ll have a word with him.” Remington finally dropped his arm, still smiling, and turned to the tunnel entrance to call for Arlo.   
Before he could say a thing, however, the ground beneath them shook violently. Avery stumbled, nearly losing his balance, while Remington squared his stance, apparently used to this by now. Remington cast a look over his shoulder at Avery, concerned.   
“Are you-” he started, but a loud crack from within the tunnel entrance cut him off.   
There was a cacophonous crash, a thundering rumble, and when they’d both stopped shielding their eyes, a massive pile of rocks lay before them. Avery froze. _Arlo._   
“Arlo,” he thought again, this time out loud. “ _Arlo!_ ” He and Remington both ran to the newly formed wall, tearing at the rocks on top.   
“Arlo, Sam, Mint, anybody! Can you hear me?” Remington yelled, panic in his voice. Avery scrambled at the rocks, operating purely on autopilot. He couldn’t think. He could hardly breathe. _Arlo. Arlo is in there._ He dislodged a rock and found a hole that went through to the other side.   
“Arlo!?” he yelled. He couldn’t see anything on the other side: it was only black.   
Finally, finally, a voice called back.   
“Avery?”   
_Oh thank god._   
He could have cried with relief. Remington huddled in next to him.   
“Arlo! You’re okay?” he yelled.   
“Yeah- Sam and Mint are here, too. We’re okay!” Remington crumpled in a bit, too, relieved.   
“Thank the heavens- you had me worried!”   
“Well, keep worrying!” Arlo retorted. “We’re not _that_ okay- Mint’s hurt, and my arm is… a bit worse for wear,” he concluded. “The collapse caused a cave in. We’re in an underground passage of sorts- I think it’s a part of the old mine. You should go in through there and see if you can’t find the other side of this door- we’re locked in here.” Remington opened his mouth to reply, but a loud shriek tore through the hole.   
“What was that!?” Avery yelled.   
Sam’s voice replied. “We’re not alone down here! Hurry up!” Avery gulped. Remington grabbed his arm.   
“We have to go,” he said, determined. Avery nodded. The knot in his chest was tight, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to storm in there and find them. He hesitated for a moment at the tunnel.   
“Be careful!” he yelled, and then they were off.   
\---  
Avery said nothing on the way to the mines. He stared ahead, marching determinedly even though he only had half an idea where these mines were. _Gotta save Arlo. And Sam. And Mint. God, I hope Arlo is okay._ The knot in his chest throbbed, but he was focused well enough on his task to ignore it.   
His hands were balled up into fists and shoved into his pockets to stop them shaking.   
They reached the elevator down to the mine entrance, and Avery stared resolutely at the wood beneath his boots while they slowly crept downward. He stomped on it, agitated.   
“This thing is so _fucking_ slow,” he spat.   
The gentle hand on his shoulder was a surprise.   
“Hey,” Remington started. “They’ll be okay. They’re tough.” Avery nodded, thankful, but he couldn’t look him in the eye.   
Avery’s boots finally hit the ground. The elevator was still a few feet from the landing platform, but he was impatient. He trudged forward to the entrance- Remington grabbed his shoulder as they went in.   
“Hey, wait, hold up,” he started. Avery sighed.   
“What is it?” he asked. Remington eyed him over.   
“Where are you going, storming in like that? Do you even have a weapon with you?” Avery held up his fists, hoping to seem determined and strong, but Remington huffed out a short laugh. He unhooked the large Corps hammer from the holster on his back and held it out to Avery.   
“Here. This’ll get you farther.” Avery fixed it with a reverent look- _A Corps hammer… that’s so badass._ He hesitated.   
“Don’t you need that?” he asked, unsure. Remington pushed it into his hands- _Shit, that’s heavy_ \- and pulled a sheathed sword from his bag.   
“Nope,” he said with a grin, popping the ‘p’. “Besides, you need to be armed. Arlo would _kill_ me if I let you go in there without a weapon and you got hurt.” Avery hefted the hammer in his hands and gave it a swing. He smacked it into a rock near the entrance, shattering it. Remy let out a low whistle. Avery grinned.   
“This'll do.”


	4. falling, falling

Avery panted, using the hammer to prop himself up as Remington finished off the last monster in the room. He was tired. Exhausted, even. But somewhere in that mine, Sam, Mint, and Arlo were in danger, and he’d be damned if he was about to give up. He watched the monster as it fell to the ground- it wasn’t going to be moving any time soon. The room was clear; they could move on. He pushed himself up, back aching, and hefted the hammer onto his shoulders.  
“Alright, which way now?” he asked. Remington shook his head.  
“You’ve got to sit down, Avery. You need some rest.” Avery bristled.  
“What? No. We need to find Ar- _everyone_. We need to find everyone,” he insisted, shaking his head to clear it. Remington huffed.  
“We’re not finding anybody if you drop dead in the middle of a fight. You need to take care of yourself, too.” Avery wouldn’t meet his eyes, and Remington sighed, knowing how stressed he was. “Ave, I know you’re worried about everyone. I am too. But they’re tough- they can handle five more minutes while you sit down and drink some damn water.”  
He only paused for a moment before reluctantly approaching a nearby wall and sitting down, leaning his weight against it. Remington smiled slightly and sat next to him. Avery pulled off his bag, setting it between his legs and sifting through it for medicines. He pulled out some food, some salves, and his water bottle before he realized he’d dug up the heart knot. He flushed, quickly closing his bag.  
“Apple?” he offered Remington, hoping he hadn't noticed. He took it gratefully.  
“You seem well prepared for this,” he commented. “You know this was going to happen or something?” Avery saw him grinning at him and he rolled his eyes.  
“Nah. I was in the hazardous ruins yesterday and I was too lazy to take this stuff back out. Good thing, too, I guess.” Remington hummed in agreement. Avery popped open his water and took a long drink, thinking he was in the clear.  
“So, that heart knot for Arlo?” he asked.  
Avery coughed, nearly choking on his water. “W- _what_?” he asked, pitch much too high. “ _Arlo_? Wh- no, that’s, uh…”  
He met Remington’s eyes and knew he wasn’t buying it. He groaned loudly. “I’m an awful liar,” he lamented. Remington laughed.  
“That’s alright, that’s alright. I’ve figured there was something going on with you two for a while. Why’d you bring it out to the tunnel, though? Not the most romantic place.” Avery took a long sip of his water. _How much should I tell him?_ , he wondered for a moment.  
_Oh, fuck it._ He decided that he didn’t care.  
“I wasn’t planning on giving it to him. I just keep it in my bag, kind of… hoping for the right time, I guess? I’ve been toting it around for like… a season or so, I think,” He admitted. “I don’t know why I still have it in here, though. I should really just throw it away.” He didn’t expect the bewildered look that Remington shot his way.  
“What, for real? I honestly thought you two were already an item, just… secretly.” Avery almost laughed.  
“No, I wish. What the hell made you think that?” Remington shrugged.  
“I don’t know, I got the vibe that something was going on, and then I saw you two coming out of his bedroom the other day looking all flustered. Figured I’d interrupted something.” This time, Avery did laugh.  
“No, actually. We were in his room for privacy, yeah, but that’s because he was asking me for advice- Nora confessed to him. Beat me to it. He didn’t know what to do about it.” Remington’s eyes shot wide.  
“Oh, damn, for real? I completely misread that. I’m sorry.” Avery shrugged.  
“No, it’s fine. I never really expected him to reciprocate, anyways.” There were a few seconds of silence while Avery drank more water.  
“Do you love him?” Remington asked. Avery might have been more shocked by the out of the blue question if he hadn’t been wondering the same. He shrugged nonchalantly.  
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Maybe? Never been in love before, though, so I couldn’t tell you.” He capped his empty water bottle and tossed it in his bag before shouldering it and standing back up, stretching. Every single bone in his body that was capable of cracking popped loudly, and Avery hummed in satisfaction even though he was sore through to his core. He took a deep breath. “Alright, I’m hydrated. Let’s go?” Remington smiled up at him and nodded.  
On the way out, Remington put a hand on his shoulder once more. “By the way, you don’t have to worry about me blabbing. I know how to keep a secret.” Avery smiled at him.  
“I wasn’t worried, I trust you. But thank you.”  
\---  
Avery had just finished fixing the mechanics on a large door, dusting his hands off with satisfaction. “All right, Rem, it should be good now,” he called. Remy gave him a thumbs up and flipped the switch. The door creaked open, clearly in a state of disuse but functional nonetheless. Avery smirked and nearly bragged, but then he froze. Voices echoed up out of the room. “Remy,” he called. “Remy, get the hell over here, I think we found them.” Remington ran over and they went in together.  
The door led onto a ramp, which curved down and around a large, circular room. Avery ran to the edge and peered down. The first thing he saw was the hulking relic looming in the center of the room- a large dome with three long, metal legs attached. The second thing he saw was what it was looming over- or, rather, _who_. Arlo, Sam, and Mint were all standing extremely still along the edge of the room. He watched for a beat, but nobody so much as flinched- not even the relic. It loomed menacingly, but motionlessly. _Maybe it senses motion?_ He thought, confused. Fear gripped his chest, but determination gripped harder, and he turned and began sprinting down the ramp. He could hear Remington following behind him, and he came to a halt at the bottom. He threw out his arm and stopped Remington from passing him.  
“Avery?” he asked, confused. Avery stared down the relic.  
It hadn’t moved.  
“Guys,” Avery called over. They didn’t move, but Sam spoke.  
“Good to see you,” she called back.  
“It doesn’t see us?”  
“Movement. The eye’s trained on us.” Avery nodded, his suspicions confirmed. From here, he could see the massive drill head attached to the bottom of the relic’s glass dome. He eyed up his friends- Mint had what appeared to be a torn shirt tied around his head, Arlo’s arm was in a makeshift sling, and Sam seemed fine at a glance.  
“There a way out of here?” he called.  
“Probably that tunnel on the other side of the room,” Mint replied. “There’s a breeze. We came in a different door trying to leave, and this thing cornered us. Can’t move. We figured you couldn’t be too far behind.” Avery surveyed the situation, trying to eye the distances.  
“I’ll distract it and you guys run for the tunnel,” he decided, pulling the hammer from his shoulders.  
“ _What_? Avery, that’s dangerous,” admonished Arlo. He bristled and began walking slowly across the room.  
“You’re _hurt_. You need to leave,” he insisted, keeping his voice level.  
“I’m _not_ leaving you behind in here- get back.”  
“I can handle _myself_!” he insisted. He was halfway there. “I’m going to distract this thing, and Arlo if you and Mint don’t get your asses out of here I’m going to be _mad_.”  
Remington spoke, and Avery was surprised how close behind him he was. “Sam and I will stay, too, Arlo, it’ll be-”  
Avery begin sprinting.  
“-fine-”  
Avery lept into the air, swinging the hammer above his head.  
“-now _RUN_!”  
The hammer fell hard onto one of the joints connecting the robot’s leg to its body. Suddenly, it whirred to life, the eye in the glass dome swirling around to fix on its target. One of its good legs darted out at him, aiming to hit. He rolled to dodge. It cracked into the dirt floor just next to his head, and he winced. When he was back on his feet, he could see Arlo and Mint running for the exit. Well, Mint, at least, was running- Arlo was dawdling, staring anxiously at the fight. Avery groaned, merely annoyed until the robot noticed him, as well.  
He’d never run so fast in his life.  
He saw the moment that Arlo realized it was coming for him. The way his eyes widened, his pace quickened, he raised his good arm for some tiny bit of cover. Avery wasn’t sure how he made it, but he did. He stood in front of Arlo, hammer already cranked back, and whipped it straight into the body of the robot - “ _Get away from him!_ ”, he yelled- and it sputtered and fell back about ten feet. Avery looked over his shoulder, made eye contact with Arlo, and the world slowed down for a moment.  
_I have to protect him._  
I have to protect the man I love.  
The surge of emotion nearly overtook him.  
He felt the urge to tell Arlo, to get it out in the open, to say it in case he couldn’t later. _“Get the hell out of here!”_ is what he yelled instead. Arlo, eyes wide and an odd look on his face, nodded and finally- _finally_ \- ran. He sighed and turned back to the robot, finally able to focus. It wasn’t paying attention to him- Sam and Remington were distracting it. He took the opportunity to run up and land another solid hit on the joint he’d damaged, knocking the third leg clean off. It twitched like crazy when it hit the ground, flinging sparks out in every direction. Avery didn’t rebound from the swing fast enough, however, and before he could even pick the hammer back up, one of the legs- fully gleaming with electricity- knocked him straight in the chest. He felt the impact first- it knocked the wind from his lungs. Next came the spark. He might have screamed, he couldn’t be sure. He could be sure, however, of the white-hot pain that surged through him. He didn’t know he’d been flung through the air until he felt himself hit the ground and, _damn_ , that hurt, too. He laid there for a moment, hammer about five feet from his reach, trying to catch his breath.  
_Oh god,_ he thought. _Oh god._ He cracked his eyes open and saw Remington and Sam still fighting, dodging and weaving where he’d failed to. His whole body hurt terribly, but the determination hadn’t been knocked out of him yet. He only gave himself a moment more before he dragged himself to his feet. It was a pleasantly concerning surprise when he realized he couldn’t feel where he’d been burned any more; damaged nerves or adrenaline, he couldn’t be sure yet. He picked up the hammer and trained his eyes on the relic, waiting for an opening. It faltered and lost its balance, the body hitting the floor where the third leg would have held it up before. He gripped the hammer and ran, this time hoisting it straight over his head and cracking it down onto the glass dome on top.  
The glass shattered The robot stopped. He could hear the mechanics inside whir to a halt, and the light blinked out from the eye as it stared him down. He left the hammer lodged in the relic and staggered back one step as it crashed to the floor in front of him. He was dizzy with adrenaline, and the edges of his vision were fuzzier and darker than usual. His balance felt off, like he was falling- he staggered back one more step and felt an ungodly pain shoot up his entire leg.  
Avery crumpled to the floor, landing hard on the ground alongside the relic, and the room went black.  
\---  
Arlo sat petulantly on the dune outside of the tunnel while Dr. Xu attended to his arm and put it in a proper sling. He couldn’t stop watching the tunnel exit, anxious for them to come out. Remington and Sam, he wasn’t too worried about- they had experience with this sort of thing. Avery, however…  
He was strong. There was no doubt about that. But something in his gut wouldn’t let him stop worrying. He sighed and turned to Mint, who was having his head wrapped carefully by Phyllis. Gale was there, too- he’d heard the crash and called for the doctors. Arlo wasn’t sure what good he was to help now that the doctors were there, but he still lingered. It was clear that Gale wasn’t quite sure, either, by the way he stood awkwardly in place, wringing his hands. He sighed.  
The desert was cold during autumn, and he shuddered slightly as a breeze wormed under his jacket. _I hope Avery is okay._  
\---  
Sam had tried waking him up, but he didn’t move. He was breathing, thank god, but he wasn’t moving. She and Remington’s chests were tight with fear. Remington lifted him as gently as he could, trying to find a position that wouldn’t jostle his head too much, and settled for carrying him bridal-style while Sam walked alongside him and held his head up.  
The walk out of the mines was silent until they got out into the desert. Sam took a deep, appreciative breath of the fresh air, and shuddered as she exhaled.  
“Arlo’s going to kill us for letting his boyfriend get hurt.”  
Remington hummed in agreement. He and Sam often joked about Arlo and Avery’s relationship, but he thought back on his conversation with Avery in the mines and decided not to say anything further. He adjusted Avery in his arms, and found a way to support his head against his shoulder.  
“You run ahead,” he told Sam. “I don’t wanna jostle him, but you need to tell them about Avery. He needs help ASAP.” She nodded and did as he told her, sprinting towards the small group and waving her arms. Remington watched Arlo’s figure closely from a distance. He looked happy to see Sam, but even from as far away as he was, he saw the moment that Arlo found out. He saw him sag with worry. He saw his head whip around and seek him out, and he saw him freeze with fear. Remy had a lump in his throat, and looked down at Avery.  
“You’d better be okay,” he told him quietly. “I think Arlo might lose his marbles otherwise.”  
Avery didn’t respond, but his breathing was even, and Remington really couldn’t ask for anything more at this point.  
\---  
“It’s Avery,” Sam panted, pointing back over her shoulder. Arlo felt the fear shoot through him. “He’s- Remy’s got him. He’s unconscious.” Arlo whirled around and sought out Remington- sure enough, he carried a limp figure in his arms. Arlo froze.  
“What- what happened?” he demanded. Xu had to pull him back into place to finish binding his arm, now working faster and more frantically to prepare for Avery. Sam threw her arms into the air.  
“ _I have no idea_ ,” she declared, obviously stressed and bewildered. “He got flung back, ran back up, and next thing Remy and I knew he’d caved the thing’s dome in with a hammer and he was unconscious on the floor. I don’t- I don’t know if something hit him, or-” Phyllis took her hand and squeezed it.  
“Hey, shh, we’ll take good care of him.” Sam pursed her lips and nodded, sitting down while Phyllis bustled to get their gear ready.  
\---  
It was one thing to hear that Avery was unconscious. It was another thing entirely to see him laid on a stretcher, medical professionals on either side, unresponsive. Remington sat next to Arlo, feeling equally helpless, and put an arm over his shoulders.  
“What happened?” Arlo asked again, quieter this time. Remington huffed.  
“I think he fought too hard. All offense, no defense. The thing flung him near across the room, electrocuted him, and he only took a second to get up before he charged it and caved its head in.” Arlo stared at the stretcher, utterly lost. Remington leaned in closer, speaking so only Arlo would hear him. “That whole time- not just while we were fighting that relic, but the whole time we were in those mines, his priority was getting you out of there safe.” Arlo fixed him with a look that was equal parts bewildered and stressed.  
“But- I’m the _leader_ of the _Civil Corps_ , he’s a _civilian_ , why would he-”  
“Arlo,” Remy cut him off. “He’s not just a civilian to you, and you’re not just the leader of the Civil Corps to him." He paused, seeing the confusion and conflict in Arlo's face. "You mean a lot to him, Arlo. Really. You have to know that by now.”  
Arlo turned to look at Avery on the stretcher again, bandages already covering most of his arms. The doctors were saying something about his leg- his knee, they were saying, they needed to get him to the hospital to take care of his knee. Special equipment, they said. Arlo and Remington carried the stretcher to the bus, which bore them to the town in anxious silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And just like that, the title has context! ;)


	5. do you want anything more

Arlo stared blankly at the pages of the magazine, not reading a thing. His eyes were heavy, and his head lolled low, down to the pages-  
The feeling of the paper on his face startled him, and he jolted awake again. He groaned and rubbed his eyes before casting an accusatory glance at the hospital clock. _3:18 AM_. He looked over at Mint, who was sleeping peacefully in one hospital bed, and then over to Avery, who he could only hope was just sleeping. He sighed. _Maybe I should have just gone home like Dr. Xu told me to,_ he thought. He’d argued Xu into agreeing to let him take first watch over the patients, even though, Xu argued, he didn’t need help. He’d been sitting in the hospital for what felt like ages but had likely been only a couple of hours. He’d exhausted all of their magazines, and now he’d exhausted himself- he was fading. It had been a long day.  
He looked at Avery in his bed, though, all bandaged and wrapped up, all hooked up to monitors, and he knew he wouldn’t have been able to leave his side if they’d tried to drag him out. He dropped the magazine on the desk and pulled his chair next to Avery’s bed. He propped his head up on his elbow, staring at his sleeping face, trying to puzzle him out.  
_You’re a civilian,_ he thought at Avery. _Why would you try to protect me?_  
_We’re friends,_ he reasoned back to himself. _It’s very like Avery to go out on a limb for his friends._  
_He could have died, though. That’s extreme._  
He continued puzzling over this as he crossed his arms and rested his head on the mattress next to Avery’s bandaged hand.  
His eyelids were so heavy.  
It had been such a long day.  
He faded into sleep, resting at Avery’s hip.  
\---  
He woke up much slower than he should have. The world faded into his dream, at first- one moment he was patrolling Portia (though it was oddly shaped, as though some roads had been moved around), and the next, he was talking to Avery.  
_“Arlo,” Avery said. Arlo crossed his arms._  
“Yes?” he replied. Avery didn’t react.  
“Arlo,” he said again, with a little more force.  
“What is it?” he said, irritated now.  
“Arlo, are you okay?”  
They stared each other down. He opened his mouth to speak, but a nudge at his ear sent him whirling around-  
Except he wasn’t turning around.  
He wasn’t even standing, actually. He was sat next to Avery’s bed, his neck aching from the awkward position he’d fallen asleep in. He groaned and rubbed at it, stretching a bit.  
“G’morning,” Avery mumbled. Arlo hummed.  
“Yeah, good- wait.” He stopped stretching and opened his eyes properly.  
Avery was looking back at him.  
Avery was awake.  
“Oh my god, Avery, you’re awake,” he gasped, the words rushing out. Avery smiled slowly and laughed somewhere deep in his chest, as though he were barely awake.  
“Morning,” he repeated again. Arlo checked the clock- _4:47 AM_.  
“Only technically,” he retorted. He scooted closer and looked more closely at Avery. “Avery, are you okay? How are you feeling? You’ve been unconscious for the past-”  
“Arlo, are you okay?” Avery cut across. Arlo blinked.  
“I- what? Yes, I’m fine, I just-” Avery slumped back in bed with an obnoxiously loud sigh of relief.  
“Oh, thank _goodness_ ,” he groaned. Arlo hesitated, not knowing how to handle a friend on as much medication as Avery was on.  
“Avery,” he repeated. Avery opened an eye and fixed him with a stare. “Are you okay?” he repeated. Avery shrugged weakly.  
“Yeah, I’m cool. I’m fine. No biggie. Dunno why they brought me here- I coulda just gone home.” Arlo sputtered indignantly.  
“No _biggie_?” He demanded. He heard a small sound from Mint’s bed and lowered his voice. Avery groaned. “Avery, you were electrocuted, beaten, and thrown across the room by a rogue relic- you blacked out, you _could have died_ \- that is not ‘no biggie’!” he scolded. Avery rolled his eyes.  
“But you’re okay,” Avery insisted. “And I lived. So it’s _fine_.” Arlo looked at his casually annoyed expression and felt a fear clench in his chest. _Is he always this reckless?_ he wondered. Avery leveled him with an irritated expression which, after a moment, softened into something kinder. Avery reached out and took his hand gently between his bandaged palms. He took a deep breath and let it out in a shudder.  
“Hey. Arlo,” he started. His voice was gentle. Arlo felt the rough bandages against his palm and looked down at the hands circling his own. “Arlo. I knew I was going to be okay, yeah? I knew that that relic was going to die before I did. I wouldn’t have…” Avery sighed again, his breathing slightly labored, and Arlo met his eyes once more. “I would be more careful if I didn’t know.”  
It was an odd method, but Arlo still felt the fear in his chest ebb slightly. He let out a shaky breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in. “I just- I just don’t know why you felt like you had to protect me,” he rasped- he realized upon hearing his voice that he was choked up. “I mean, I’m the leader of the Civil Corps- I can handle myself,” he insisted. He swallowed around the lump in his throat and blamed his sleep-deprived state for the surge of emotions that threatened his composure. The clearly annoyed look that Avery shot him was a shock.  
“Can you hand me my bag?” Avery asked. Arlo blinked.  
“What?”  
“My bag.”  
“Where-”  
“I don’t know.”  
He glanced around and spotted it sticking out from underneath his hospital bed. He hefted it up- _Jesus this thing is heavier than it looks_ \- and plopped it onto the bed next to Avery. Avery tilted it towards himself and began rummaging. Arlo watched him, confused, until he let out a small “aha!” and pulled something out.  
Arlo’s eyes went wide, and he froze in place.  
_Oh._  
In Avery’s hand was a small, red, distinctly heart-shaped knot.  
He wasn’t doing anything with it- just holding it in his hands and looking tenderly at it. He hummed lightheartedly while Arlo sat unmoving. Avery broke the silence, apparently unaware that there had been a silence to break in the first place.  
“I wanted to give this to you, like… a month ago, maybe two?” He groaned quietly, clearly frustrated. “I don’t know, I can’t think straight right now. But I kept it in my bag, waiting to find the guts, but I never _did_.” He finally looked up from the knot in his hands and saw the shocked look on Arlo’s face. His eyebrows went up. “Oh- don’t worry Arlo, you don’t have to take it or anything. It’s only in my bag cos… “ He chuckled quietly to himself, looking at the knot again, this time bittersweet. “I couldn’t admit to myself that I would never find the guts to give it to you.”  
Arlo finally remembered how to speak.  
“I, um.”  
He gulped.  
“I’m sorry, Avery, I didn’t realize you- it’s just, I still have to work things out with Nora, and-”  
“Whaaaat?” Avery interjected. “Didn’t she confess to you, like, a whole week ago?” Arlo’s cheeks were red.  
“I mean, not _quite_ , but-”  
“That’s such a mean amount of time to make someone wait, Arlo. You should, like, propose to her or something to make up for it.”  
“ _What_? I thought you didn’t think we were compatible,” he retorted, finding it hard to keep his voice down. Avery grimaced and rubbed at his neck.  
“Uhhhh, yeah, sorry about that. Like, I don’t _think_ you are? But I’m clearly biased, so.” He paused for a moment, staring into the middle distance. “I’ve felt really shitty about that for a while now, actually,” he admitted. He rubbed at his eyes tiredly. “I shouldn’t- You gave me your trust, I shouldn’t have used it for my own purposes. So, yeah, I’m sorry. Go get married, build a nice house, have some babies. Oh!” His eyes popped open like he’d just had a fantastic idea. “Or go join the Flying Pigs! That would be awesome, too.” Arlo sat staring at the knot in Avery’s hands for a moment, his heart pounding wildly, at a complete loss for words. He looked him in the eye again and found himself completely unprepared for the tender look that Avery had aimed at him. Avery took a deep and relaxed breath as his shoulders slumped.  
“I just want you to be happy,” he finished quietly. His voice was rough and dry from exertion, and he was exhausted and heavily medicated, but he still held such a caring fondness to him that Arlo didn't know what to do with himself.  
Avery nudged his bag away from him, and Arlo took the cue to lower it back to the floor. Avery tried to toss the knot back into his bag as an afterthought, but he missed quite dramatically. Arlo stood and picked it up to put it back into the bag-  
There was a sudden mechanical _swish_ behind him as the doors slid open.  
“Good morning, gentlemen,” Dr. Xu greeted them from the doorway  
Arlo looked at the knot in his hand and immediately panicked.  
He did the reasonable thing.  
He pocketed it.  
“M-morning, Dr. Xu,” he stuttered. Xu looked at him closely.  
“You look exhausted, Arlo. I told you I could handle it myself,” he said with a sigh. He took the freshly abandoned seat next to Avery’s bed and greeted him calmly. He looked back at Arlo. “You should go home and get some sleep. I’ll handle it from here- he’s in good hands.” Arlo nodded and dragged a hand down his face. His body sagged and his eyes were burning with exhaustion, but his mind was racing.  
“Okay. Thank you, Xu. I’ll see you two soon.” He started towards the door.  
“Byeee, Arlo,” Avery called nonchalantly. He turned and waved once more, his face bright red and his pocket heavy as a brick.  
\---  
Arlo’s eyes burned with exhaustion. He didn’t even know what time it was anymore, only that he’d been tossing and turning in his bed for what felt like an eternity.  
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw it.  
The heart knot.  
The heart knot in Avery’s bandaged hands, and the unabashed _softness_ in Avery’s eyes as he spoke to him about his feelings. The knot loomed on his desk. He didn’t know what to do with it. Should he give it back? Should he hide it somewhere nobody would ever find it? Should he-  
Should he accept it?  
He groaned and rubbed at his eyes again. He didn’t even know how he felt about _Nora_ yet- with Avery added on top of his emotional backlog, the pressure was mounting. He sighed. He _knew_ that he had to figure this all out. He _knew_ that he had to lay it out and figure out how to untangle the mess he’d found himself in, but he found no starting point no matter how long he thought it through. Attempting to figure out his feelings towards Nora had felt bad enough. Now he also didn’t know how to feel about Avery, and he didn’t know how to sort it all out so that everyone would be happy with the outcome.  
He cared about Avery. And he cared about Nora. He cared about them both so much- the two of them along with Sam and Remington were his closest friends in Portia. He couldn’t bear the thought of a rejection ruining his friendships.  
He stared up at his ceiling, the knots in the wooden planks now familiar, and felt a deep ache in his chest that he couldn’t quite place.  
He thought back on his time with Avery.  
The banter. The kindness. The bravery. The care.  
The flirtatious jokes.  
_“What, you don’t want to stay and watch the sunset? Pinnacle of romance.”_  
Arlo facepalmed. He finally rolled over to his desk to check the clock. Just past 6 in the morning- the sun would be rising soon, and he hadn’t slept aside from the hour he’d spent at Avery’s bedside. He groaned, resigned, and kicked the sheets off.  
Trying to sleep now was pointless.  
That’s what he told himself, at least.  
\---  
Arlo was freshly showered, in a clean uniform, patrolling the Portia walls when the sun rose. The sky was pink and gold and orange and all shades of gorgeous, but his eyes were tired and he only appreciated it passively.  
He kept his eyes trained ahead of him, but he wasn’t really paying attention to what he saw. His mind was still whirling- it hadn’t stopped since Avery had pulled that knot out of his bag. It was like he’d flipped a switch in Arlo’s brain, and suddenly his thoughts were hurtling by at 70 mph and refused to slow down.  
The last time he’d been like this was right after Nora had confessed to him. He’d been able to talk to Avery about it then. He wished he could talk to him about this, too.  
He approached the gate leading into central plaza, and just as he went to loop inside, Remington walked out. They stopped and stared at one another.  
“Arlo, hey, how are you-” Remington paused, eyes narrowing. “Wait, what the hell are you doing out of bed? And patrolling my route?” Arlo gulped.  
“Oh, y’know,” he answered meekly. Remy raised an eyebrow.  
“No, actually,” he countered. “I don’t.” Arlo was visibly uncomfortable and peered nervously through the gate into the plaza to make sure nobody was nearby. Remy noticed, and he paid attention to how exhausted he looked. He decided to take pity.  
“Let’s walk and talk,” he proposed. He walked back the way Arlo had come from, and Arlo, unsure what else to do, followed. They walked in silence for only a minute. “So, you going to tell me what’s up?” Remy probed. Arlo shrugged.  
“I couldn’t sleep, and I can’t take commissions or train with my arm in a sling, so… patrol,” he explained. Remington hummed.  
“When did you even get back to the Corps?” he asked.  
“Around like, five or so?” Remy winced.  
“Did you sleep at all?” he asked. Arlo shrugged.  
“For like an hour I think, while I was in the hospital keeping an eye on the guys.”  
“Mint and Avery.”  
“Yeah.”  
“The _guys_?”  
“Wh- what? They’re guys!”  
“I mean, yeah, but- I don’t know, that sounds weird coming out of your mouth.” They walked in quiet again, this time with Remington keeping a careful eye on him. He waited until they walked alongside the wheat fields, towards the tree farm, to try again.  
“You going to tell me what’s going on with you, Arlo?” Arlo looked at him in surprise.  
“What? Going on with me? I’m fine,” he insisted. Remington raised an eyebrow.  
“You know I’m not falling for it. If you don’t want to talk about it, fine, but I’ll listen if you’ll speak.”  
Arlo thought about it for a moment. The tangled mess in his head had proved invincible to his own shots at reason. _Maybe…_ He looked at Remington, hopeful.  
“I… you won’t tell anyone?” he checked.  
“Of course not.”  
“I don’t even know where to start.”  
“The beginning is a good place.”  
Arlo took a deep breath.  
“Okay. Yeah. The beginning.”  
\---  
“I just- it’s a mess,” Arlo shuddered after finishing his tale. Remington let out a low whistle.  
“Certainly a mess.”  
“I don’t know where to start.” Remington rolled his eyes.  
“Arlo, that’s obvious. Who told you first?”  
“Nora.”  
“So who do you need to deal with first?”  
“... Nora.”  
“How do you feel about Nora?” Arlo sighed.  
“I don’t know,” he groaned.  
“No, no, give me a _real_ answer. Are you romantically interested in her?” he asked, not letting Arlo drop it. Arlo crossed his arms as best as he could with one in a sling and went quiet for a while. He weighed it in his mind. He considered it. He tried to imagine kissing her, and that’s when he sighed.  
“I don’t think I am.”  
“Okay, there you go then,” Remy said with a smile. “There’s one thing figured out.” Arlo smiled a bit despite himself. “Now you just have to go talk to her and reject her. Just be nice about it- she’s sweet, it’ll be okay.” Arlo nodded quietly. “Now,” Remington started, rubbing his palms together, “are you romantically interested in Avery?” Arlo’s chest went tight and he fell quiet for a moment.  
“I don’t know,” he said quietly. Remy gave him an unimpressed look, and Arlo got defensive. “I’m being serious, though, I haven’t thought about that at all until last night and I haven’t figured that out yet.” They both fell quiet again, Arlo staring into the middle distance. He considered Avery, and a whole mess of jumbled emotions followed. “I definitely have a lot of feelings _about_ him. I just don’t know what they _are_ ,” he admitted. Remington nodded.  
“Hey, that’s a good start, though,” he commended. “Do you want to talk it through?” Arlo shot him an uncomfortable look.  
“I don’t know about that,” he groaned. “Feels kind of childish.” Remington rolled his eyes.  
“It isn’t childish to talk about your feelings, Arlo. It’s _mature_.” Arlo sighed and thought about Avery again, trying to find the right words.  
“I… I love spending time with him,” he started. “I trust him with anything. I worry about him constantly. He means a lot to me. But all of that could apply to a friend just as well as a crush, Rem,” he complained. Remy gave him a soft smile and stopped walking. They were beneath a large tree along the wall of Portia, with a good view of the llama field.  
“Do you want to hold him, though?” Arlo’s eyes went wide, and if he wasn’t red before, he certainly was now.  
“What?”  
“You know what I mean, Arlo. Think about Avery. Think about his face, think about your time together, and let yourself feel your feelings. Do you want to hold him?” Arlo stared at his boots in silence. “Do you want to kiss him?” Remington probed, pushing him further. Arlo’s face snapped up. He was red as a tomato.  
“Rem!” he hissed, embarrassed.  
“Arlo,” he started, gentle but firm. He put a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to answer me. You just need to figure this out for yourself. Now think about Avery again, and think about this: do you want _anything_ more than to be beside him as his friend?” He dropped his hand, then turned to look out over the llama field. Arlo followed suit, and the pregnant pause passed in more or less comfortable silence.  
“I think it’ll take me a while to figure that one out,” Arlo admitted into the quiet. Remington nodded.  
“That’s alright. Take your time. But you need to talk to Nora.”  
“Yeah. I will.” He paused for a moment, and they continued moving back towards Peach Plaza. “Hey, uh… thank you, Remy. For listening.” Remy turned to him and smiled warmly.  
“No problem, Arlo.”  
They continued in silence until they reached the gate, where Arlo planned to take a Dee-dee back up to the Corps and take a nap now that he’d calmed down. Surprisingly enough, however, a Dee-dee was already pulling up when they approached the stop. He and Remington stopped to give them room. The passenger’s crutches hit the ground first, and they hobbled unsteadily off of the scooter and onto the dirt path. The bright purple cast encasing their knee caught Arlo’s eyes next, and then the layers of bandages on their arms; their arms seemed more bandaged than not. Arlo froze as he finally made eye contact.  
_Avery._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If this fic were a Shakespearean play, this would be Act III. Not because it's the middle of the story- I actually don't remember if it is or not, lmao- but because it's catalytic. 
> 
> (yes I'm a literature nerd so sue me)
> 
> EDIT: ((IMPORTANT)) ((3/30/19)) I haven't updated this in a little while, but I fully intend to finish the story- I even have a sequel hashed out in my phone memos. I've just been super busy lately! I'm a university student, and the semester is wrapping up within the coming month. All of my final projects are piling up, and I've got no free time/inspiration while I'm tired and stressed. But fear not, this isn't discontinued, just on a temp hiatus while I figure my shit out and finish the semester lol. Thank you all for your continued support!


	6. for my sake

Avery sat in the back of the dee-dee, trying to ignore the pain thrumming through his bones every time they hit a bump. The medication from the night before had finally worn off, and while he’d gotten off lucky- Dr. Xu had been _sure_ to make that clear- he was still healing. His head throbbed. His arms- well, they hurt a bit. They were supposed to hurt more than they did. Nerve damage and all that. And his leg… He wasn’t even sure _how_ he’d hurt his kneecap, but hey, there it was, injured.   
The sun was shining bright and clear. Portia was beginning to wake up for the day, arms stretching into the fresh sky, the breeze along the hills a breath of fresh air. Usually, Avery would feel invigorated by this. Usually, Avery would be working by now- what was it, seven? Eight? But he knew, looking down at his arms, his crutches, and his cast, he knew that he wouldn’t be getting anything done that day. His lips pursed into a thin line.  
He had a hard time being okay with that.   
_What if Higgins swoops in and steals my #1 spot?_ He wondered, eyeing the back of the Commerce Guild as the dee-dee sputtered past. He tried to think back to his to-do list from before the incident- _God, do I have any time-sensitive commissions? What if they’re due today?_ He gripped his bag, anxious to open it and find his notepad, but they were nearing his stop. He sighed and shouldered the bag instead.   
As they shuddered to a stop just outside the plaza, he gathered his strength to get up. He led with the crutches, planting them firmly on the ground before taking a deep breath and pushing his weight onto them. His left foot hit the dirt solidly while his right dangled a few inches above, held at an angle by his cast. His heavy backpack made it difficult to find his balance, but once he did, he slowly looked up from his feet.   
He blinked.  
 _Oh._   
Arlo and Remington were standing only feet away, openly staring in surprise. His heart stuttered and he clumsily stepped forward, an excited laugh bubbling out of his sore chest.   
“Hey, guys!” he chirped. “How are you two? I, uh, I didn’t get to see you after the fight broke out,” he pointed out sheepishly. Arlo’s eyes were wide, his jaw hanging open just a fraction, and Avery wondered self consciously if he looked as bad as he felt. Before Arlo’s silence could become awkward, however, Remington stepped forward.   
“Both of us are just fine and dandy in comparison, no need to worry. My skinned knee is nothing compared to yours,” he joked, landing a gentle hand on his shoulder. Avery recognized the comforting gesture from the mines, and he smiled. “I’ve got to get back on my patrol, though,” Remington continued, looking over his shoulder to Arlo. “Why don’t you take his bag and make sure he gets home okay?” Arlo’s eyes widened pointedly and his jaw snapped shut, but Remy didn’t react.   
“No, that’s okay,” Avery insisted, not sure how to interpret Arlo’s reaction. Anxiety pulsed in his lungs. _Is he mad at me?_ He wondered in the back of his mind. “I can make it back, it’s right over there.” He looked at the workshop to avoid Arlo’s gaze and wondered passively how his machines were doing since he’d left.   
Arlo looked at Avery in profile, considered his face, saw the scratches and the exhaustion and the anxiety written in his eyes. Avery shrugged slightly over his crutches. “I’m just tired,” he sighed quietly. Arlo frowned.   
“No, I- I’ll help. You go on, Remy. I’ll catch up with you later.” Remington nodded, and Avery conceded weakly, awkwardly removing his bag to let Arlo carry it. Arlo ran his thumb over one strap of the bag before throwing it over his shoulders, remembering. His heart fluttered against his chest, beating too quickly to put any real effort into it. He looked at Remington, narrowing his eyes pointedly behind Avery’s back. Remington grinned subtly, casting a wink over his shoulder as he turned to leave. Arlo groaned as he turned back and started walking alongside Avery.   
“How are you?” Avery asked quietly, grunting as he worked the unfamiliar crutches. Arlo blinked.   
“Uh… Okay. Just a sprain.” Avery cast an uncertain eye at him over his shoulder but didn’t pry. He wasn’t sure what was up with Arlo, but if he didn’t want to talk, he was too tired to pry.   
Arlo wondered over what to say. _Do I bring it up? Will he? What do I say?_ “What about you, though?” he settled to ask, after much too long of a pause. “I mean, you’re the one on crutches and all.” Avery rolled his eyes and huffed out half of a laugh.   
“I’ll be fine,” he groaned. “Xu said my blackout was mostly from the adrenaline, only kind of from the injuries. I just need to take it easy.”   
“What’s the damage, though?” Arlo demanded. This time, the pause was too short, and Avery blinked at him in surprise. He gulped, realizing his tone. “I just- you- I mean…” He groaned loudly and rubbed at his eyes. “You just- you scared the shit out of me- us. You scared the shit out of all of us.” Avery opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Arlo wasn’t looking at him- his eyes were trained resolutely on the workshop ahead of them, and he gripped one of the bag’s shoulder straps tightly. Avery saw the bags under his eyes. He saw the tight purse of his lips. He saw the beating he’d taken, and he swallowed around the knot of guilt forming in his throat.   
“I know,” he started, voice dropped to a tired rasp. He sighed and shook his head. “I’m really sorry, Arlo. I didn’t mean to worry you all, but… thank you for keeping an eye on me.”   
Arlo looked at him again, a curious expression on his face. “So… “   
Avery tilted his head. “So?”   
Arlo shrugged. “Y’know..”   
Avery squinted at him, not knowing. “No?”   
Arlo gestured vaguely behind them.   
“The hospital?”   
Avery stared blankly at him.   
“I- yes? That _is_ where you kept an eye on Mint and I, right?” he asked, vaguely amused but entirely confused. Arlo gave him an odd look, seeming to put together something that Avery wasn’t seeing. He sighed and stopped walking.  
“Do you…”   
Avery stopped, too, turning to face him. Arlo gulped.   
“Do you not remember, then?”   
Avery’s face fell.  
As did his stomach.   
“Wait. Remember _what_?” he asked, anxiety spiking up into his chest once again. Arlo’s eyes widened as he internally panicked. “Did I do something stupid?” Avery demanded, eyes wide.  
 _He doesn’t remember_ , Arlo realized. _What do I- do I tell him?_ He shook his head slightly, in a way that he hoped seemed comforting. _Lights, of course I don’t._ “Uh, no, nothing in particular,” he decided on the spot. Avery looked a bit confused, but he sagged with relief, letting out a deep sigh.   
“Oh, thank the light,” he groaned. “You made it sound like I did something dumb,” he explained. Arlo nodded along, as though he’d needed the explanation, and continued walking. Avery followed.   
“No, it’s just that I was there when you woke up- it didn’t occur to me that you wouldn’t remember that,” he lied. “You were on a lot of medication.” Avery huffed.   
“ _Awesome._ Did I say anything stupid?”  
Arlo looked Avery in the eyes, and for a moment, they looked just as soft and fond as they had the night before. _“I just want you to be happy,”_ his brain helpfully echoed. Arlo blinked and broke eye contact, reaching the gate to the workshop and opening it for Avery.  
“I mean… yes. But it wasn’t really embarrassing, just not very coherent.” Avery hummed his thanks as he passed through the gate, fumbling for his keys.   
“That’s boring, but at least I didn’t go spilling dark secrets,” he joked. Arlo rolled his eyes.   
“What, like your secret identity?” Avery whirled around.   
“Yes, exactly!” he exclaimed. “What if I’d accidentally told you about my past as an astronomer? Or my secret life of crime? Or my wife and children in Barnarock?” Something odd flashed across his face as he said the last part, as though he’d accidentally said something true and confused himself. He shook his head and turned to open the door. Arlo pretended not to notice.   
“Or your underground science laboratory?” he offered. Avery nodded as he turned the keys, jiggling the doorknob until it opened.   
“Yes, with all of my secret sciencey.. Things. Like test tubes.” He looked over his shoulder as the door swung open. “Are there test tubes in the research center?” he asked. Arlo shrugged. Avery mirrored him as he pulled the key from the lock and stepped inside. Arlo strode in confidently after him, as comfortable in Avery’s home as he was in his own. They didn’t spend much time there together- when they hung out, it was usually inside or at The Round Table- but it was something about that place that made him feel comfortable.   
Something about Avery.   
Arlo fidgeted awkwardly, thoughts of the night before rushing to the forefront again.   
Avery, oblivious, barrelled on.   
“I guess I would feel better having told you about all of my deep dark life secrets than I would if I told Xu, though, so…” He sat on his couch with a deep sigh and smiled at Arlo. “Thank you, again. For keeping an eye on me.” Arlo took a deep breath, and the nerves in his chest melted away slightly as he met Avery’s eyes. A soft smile traced his lips.  
“Of course. Anything for you.” He noticed, for the first time, when Avery blushed.   
_Oh. Well, shit._   
He gulped and looked away quickly, feeling his own face flush in response.   
“Um, do- d’you need me to do anything before I go?” he checked, casting his eyes here and there around the room. Avery seemed flushed, too, and looked just as lost.   
“Ah, I mean- nothing big? Could you just fill Scraps’ bowl on your way out?” he asked. “It’s by the dog house. His food is in the box just next to it.” Arlo nodded.   
“‘Course. Anything else?” Avery thought hard, mentally checking his lists.   
“I mean… maybe one thing. But this could happen later, too, not necessarily right now.”   
“What’s that?”   
“Can you tell Alice and Emily what happened for me?” he asked, swinging his legs up onto the couch. He fumbled and sent his crutches crashing down to the floor, and he groaned loudly in frustration. “I don’t want to go that far on these things, but I don’t want them to find out through the gossip mill, either,” he explained. Arlo nodded.   
“Yeah, I get it. You have my word.” Avery snorted, laughing quietly before he cut himself off and gripped his abdomen.   
“Ow. You’re so formal, Arlo. _You have my word_ ,” he repeated with dramatic emphasis, sweeping his arm through the air. “So chivalrous.” Arlo rolled his eyes as Avery continued to giggle, holding his stomach.   
“I _am_ the leader of the Corps,” he pointed out, smiling in good humor. “I have to be able to have some degree of chivalry. I think it’s in the job description.” Avery rolled his eyes.   
“Sure, sure. My modern day knight in shining armor,” he cooed. “Saving the world from gossip mills and feeding hungry dogs worldwide.”   
Arlo knew he should go, but he hovered. He looked closely at Avery, his bandages, his cast, his scratches- lines carved into his face both by metal and by nerves.   
“Just- Avery, before I go.” Avery looked up at him, surprised at the change of tone. Arlo clammed up a bit. “You… you need to be more careful. That was a close call.”   
Avery grimaced, breaking eye contact and fiddling with his cast.   
“Yeah, I know,” he sighed. “Really, though, I’m fine, it’s no big-”  
“It is a big deal,” Arlo interrupted. Avery didn’t meet his eyes. “You have no idea- I thought I- I thought we _lost_ you for a second there, Avery, it _was_ a big deal.” Silence weighed heavily on the room as Avery thought on what to say and found nothing. Arlo stared at his boots.   
“For my sake, please.”   
Avery finally looked up, surprised.   
“I’m not saying this as the Civil Corps leader. I’m saying this as… just as myself, I guess. For my sake, please be more careful. It just…” He looked up at the ceiling, at the rafters, and felt Avery’s eyes on him.   
“It hurts me, too, seeing you like that.”   
He finally met Avery’s eyes, saw the pink in his cheeks. It was obvious. His probably was, too. _How often did I not notice that?_ He wondered. _It seems so obvious now. How often did I ignore it?_   
The ten feet of distance between them felt a blessing as the seconds stretched long.  
“I-” Avery started, not sure where to go. “I will,” he stuttered. “I’ll be more careful, but… you, too.” Arlo nodded.   
“Seems we’ve struck a deal, then,” he joked, trying to break the tension he’d created. Avery’s face fell into an easy, practiced grin.   
“It seems so.”   
“I should go deliver your messages. And dog food.”   
“You’re the best.”   
“I know. Now get some rest.”   
“Trust me, I will. You, too.”   
“Of course.”   
“Goodbye, Arlo.”   
“I’ll see you soon, Avery.”   
The door closed. Avery flopped backward onto the couch cushions, staring up at the ceiling, eyes wide and face bright red. His heartbeat thrummed against his chest as he held a hand to one cheek and felt the warmth there. A deep sigh shuddered out of him, and he knew for a fact, with no uncertainty, that he was totally and entirely fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry this took so long, I'm so busy lately. I'm a university student, and the semester is wrapping up soon, meaning that homework and final projects have entirely taken over my life. I guess this is karma for me updating so fast in the beginning, lol.   
> My updating may be spotty until the semester is over in a month, but I'm not going to abandon this or anything. I care too much about Avery to ditch him in the middle of a story, so don't worry about that!   
> Thank you for reading, thank you for waiting, and thank you for your continued support- it means a lot! Leave a comment to let me know what you think, it really makes my day! :)


	7. just a dream

Getting into bed was bittersweet. Somehow, everything felt both better and worse as soon as he laid down. The hug of his mattress was blissful, but his bones ached so much more once his weight no longer rested on them. He didn’t have to suffer for it long, though-- exhaustion gripped him, and he winked out, finally, like a burnt-out lightbulb.   
His sleep was dreamless; he was much too tired to conjure narratives in his mind. The sweet silence soothed him after the chaos of the past days, and he slept long and deep. While he rested, the sun swung from the East and settled above the workshop. It no longer shone aggressively through his window, and the bedroom glowed heavenly with the indirect sunshine. The only noise in the house was his even breathing, and his home felt frozen in the moment, flooded with a peace it hadn’t seen since he’d arrived. It couldn’t last, however; Arlo had delivered his messages. Alice and Emily’s arrivals were imminent. Still, a six-hour nap was a good one. He woke to the pounding at his door around two in the afternoon.   
He sat up slowly, body creaking, cracking, and complaining at every joint. He groaned. “Who is it?” he called, not moving further.   
_“Alice and Emily!”_ ; their voices were muffled through the door. He sighed and dragged his hands down his face, rubbing at his tired eyes.   
“Come in!” he called back. He made no move to get up-- “I’m in my room,” he supplied once he heard the door open-- and let them come to him. His brace felt as heavy as a block of steel at that moment. They’d understand his lack of manners.   
While he’d expected their visit, he didn’t expect the gifts. Alice entered the room laden with flowers from her shop, Emily balancing a pie in one hand and a fruit basket in the other. Knowing them and their kindness, he should have expected it, but he didn’t. He should have expected all of their questions, the need to tell every part of the story twice, their reactions, their horror, their intrigue, their awe. He should have expected them to worry and to fuss, to make him feel loved and cared for. He really should have expected them to stay-- “Did you really expect us to ditch you in your empty house all day?” asked Emily, disbelieving--but he didn’t. He didn’t expect any of it, and he didn’t know why. They’d always been like this, they’d always loved him, and he’d always loved and cared for them in return. But when Alice and Emily sat on either side of his too-big bed, helped him change into a more comfortable shirt, helped him get cozy, and then just _stayed_ , told him stories, made him laugh-- he felt overwhelmed. He laid back in the pillow nest they’d built up. Emily sat to his left reading aloud from Alice’s second draft, and he looked at them with so much love in his heart that he cried.   
Alice noticed first. Her hand was cool when it brushed his forehead.  
“Hey, hey, Ave, what’s up?” she asked quietly. Emily stopped reading. “It’s not even a sad part.” He shook his head and wiped at his eyes.   
“Sorry, sorry. I’m just emotional. I just- I love you guys so much,” he choked out.   
It was awkward to manage a group hug while all three of them were sitting in the same bed, but they managed it. They finished Alice’s book, they did their best to help her polish it up, and by the end of it, Avery was _tired_.   
“I haven’t even gotten up yet,” he insisted. “I haven’t done anything today. I can stay up longer. I’ll be fine.” They refused.   
“You’re still recovering,” Alice pointed out.   
“You need the rest,” Emily insisted.   
“We’ll be back tomorrow,” they promised, “just maybe not as long.”   
The door clicked shut, and he fell asleep much faster than anticipated.   
\---  
When Avery slept, he was plagued by odd dreams. One in which he floated on his back, staring up at the star-pricked sky, while Remington’s disembodied voice spoke to him quietly. It was mostly unintelligible mumbling, but the one message that came through clearly was _you’d better be okay_ , and something about marbles. Avery woke up at 2:43 AM, scribbled down _night sky remington voice- be okay marbles?_ In his dream journal, and then slipped back into sleep.   
He drifted back into the night sky, but this time a canopy was hoisted over him- he had to look to his side to see the stars. His head lolled uncomfortably, but this time he wasn’t alone. Someone sat beside him, fiddling with something, he wasn’t sure what or who- maybe Phyllis?- but they were sat next to him, and it felt important. He was laying down, and the cushioned surface underneath his back rumbled and jostled. He thought about it a bit harder and realized he was on the bus, laid across the seat cushions. Maybe-Phyllis was more of an amorphous blob than a clear entity, but they touched his arm and he recoiled. He woke up at 3:22 AM, scribbled down _laying on bus?? sky sideways, maybe phyllis?_ before rolling over and sinking back into his dreams.   
He wasn’t outside anymore. This time he saw pale green bricks around him, two-toned and soft. A screen stood to one side, a flash of red hair on the other. Arlo sat at his hip. He spoke quite animatedly, but again, all he got were snatches of his words. _You’re awake_ rang through, and Arlo looked relieved. Avery spoke to him, but he couldn’t hear his own words, wasn’t privy to his own thoughts. Arlo frowned and insisted, _I can handle myself._ Avery felt frustrated, and conjured a heart knot out of thin air, and explained _something_ important to Arlo. There were no coherent thoughts or goals, only the sense of frustration and need for release. The knot sat in his palms, his palms wrapped in bandages, and Arlo gave him a look of surprise… and fear.   
Avery woke up sweaty, and stared at the ceiling for a minute, unsure if he should write that one down. He didn’t know if he’d want to remember it later. But after a moment’s deliberation, he rolled over and scribbled _green room, argue w/ arlo, heart knot, arlo scared?_ Into his dream journal. He closed it decisively, dropped the pen on top of the cover, and rolled over to sleep for the last time. He didn’t dream again that night.   
\---  
The sun beat down on Avery’s neck, making him too cold and too warm all at once. The brisk temperatures of late autumn encouraged him to bundle up, but the sun made him sweat in his layers. He grunted as he tossed another log into his furnace. Loading furnaces was nigh impossible while on crutches since he couldn’t carry the logs, but he’d managed to move the box close enough to the furnaces to be able to toss them in from a short distance. His arms were vaguely sore but very weak. He took a moment to breathe and recuperate, leaning his weight on his elbows while he sat on another box. All he wanted to do was load the furnaces. If he couldn’t be building or gathering, he could at _least_ be refining materials he already had- at least, by his logic. Not by Dr. Xu’s, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. He’d just finished tossing the last log into his first furnace when--  
“ _Avery Lee!_ ” He froze, and then sighed deeply and turned around.   
“Hi, Em!” He called, a fake-casual smile plastered on his face. She strode through the gates of his yard, looming over him in an instant. “What’s u-”  
“You’re not supposed to be working,” she clipped. He sighed.   
“I’m not.”   
“What do you call this, then?”   
“Throwing wood on the fire? Do you call that work when I do it to heat my house?” She scoffed.   
“That’s different.”   
“It literally isn’t.”   
“You _need_ a warm home, Avery. You don’t need your work furnaces firing 24/7 when you’re, last I checked, _not supposed to be working_.” Her arms were crossed against her chest, and he mirrored her stance. He huffed.   
“I’m just bored,” he whined. She rolled her eyes and, finally, her mouth slipped into a slight smile.   
“I get that, Ave, but you know it’s dangerous.”   
“I was being careful!”   
“ _Still_.” He opened his mouth to argue, then closed it, staring into the fire now roaring in his furnace. He shut the door and sighed.   
“Yeah, I know.” She sat down on the now-closed wood box next to him.   
“You could always get a wheelchair from Xu. That way you’d be able to at least carry things without actually using your arms,” she pointed out. He looked up at the town, how it loomed over the hillside, and grimaced.   
“I _could_ ,” he agreed, “but that seems like a _lot_ of effort.” Emily laughed and agreed.   
\---  
At some point, they’d gone inside. The furnaces outside were all firing, thanks to her help, and he’d insisted on making her tea as thanks. They sat together on the couch and fell into a comfortable silence, broken only by a memory of a starry night sky that drifted behind Avery’s eyelids when he blinked. He perked up.   
“I had a really weird dream last night,” he mumbled over the rim of his mug. Emily’s eyebrow raised in curiosity. “I was like, floating on my back and looking at the stars. I couldn’t see anything else around me, like I was in space.” She hummed in interest.   
“Sounds… kind of scary,” she said. He shrugged.   
“It could have been, I guess, but I was calm. I’m pretty sure I was alone, but I could hear someone talking to me, too.” He thought for a moment, trying to comb over his hazy nighttime memories. “One second,” he mumbled, setting down his mug and hoisting himself up onto his crutches. He ducked into his room briefly, coming back out with his dream journal in his hands. He found the page and plopped back onto the couch, his crutches laid on the floor.   
“I guess it was Remington talking to me,” he said with a slight laugh. “That’s kind of weird.” Emily giggled.   
“A little. You have another crush now?” Avery rolled his eyes.   
“Oh, please, that is _so_ last spring.” They laughed together and his eyes fell back to the page. “All I wrote down about what he said was ‘be okay marbles’. Thanks, midnight me, so helpful,” he groaned. Emily squinted.   
“Marbles?”   
“Marbles.”   
“Dreams are weird.”   
“You’re telling me.” Avery scanned to the next page. “I guess after that, the sky turned sideways, I was on a bus, and I might have been with Phyllis.”   
“The plot thickens, as Alice would say,” joked Emily before sipping on her tea. She peered over at the pages and groaned. “I can’t even read that. Are you sure this is English?” Avery opened his mouth to defend his half-asleep handwriting when she gasped and pointed at the corner of the page. “I can read _that_ , though! Someone was dreaming about Arlo!” He flushed and looked where she pointed.   
“Green room, argue with Arlo, heart knot, Arlo scared?” he read aloud. They both paused, Avery grimacing at the page. “I’m… glad I don’t remember that one,” he joked, forcing a laugh as he snapped the book shut. He tossed it onto the coffee table and kicked his feet up with a sigh. His anxiety had pulsed back up in his lungs, and he did his best to keep it as unimposing as possible. Emily whistled.   
“Sounds like someone’s having boy anxieties,” she said. Avery shrugged.   
“When am I not? He walked me home from the bus stop yesterday and I couldn’t stop thinking about him for the rest of the day, I’m not surprised.” She ruffled his hair.   
“Hey, it was just a dream, though,” she pointed out. He nodded.   
“Yeah, I know, I’m not all that worried about it.”   
That was a lie. He was quite worried about it. At any given time, he was worried about _something_ , and his anxiety had just been presented with a wonderfully convenient subject. She checked her watch.   
“Hey, I think I should get going, I promised Grandma I would help her with the chickens.” She hugged him where he sat. “Do you need anything before I go?” she checked. He shook his head.   
“I’ll be fine, Em. I’m just going to relax today.” She smiled.   
“Good idea. Granny and I are just across the field if you need anything-- send up a flare or something if you need us, we’ll see it.” He laughed and thanked her, and then she was gone and the workshop fell quiet.  
\---  
He felt a bit bad lying to Emily, but if she knew him at all, she knew he couldn’t just sit around and do nothing for an entire day. He considered unloading the furnaces bit by bit, but he’d run the risk of Emily spotting him from across the road. He considered walking to the flower stand and hanging out with Alice, but he didn’t want people to stare at him. He considered taking simple commissions he could do while sitting down at his worktable, but that involved walking around town with an amount of energy he didn’t have. He also knew he looked worse for wear and didn’t care for the idea of being out and about in public, regardless of the energy. He settled for cleaning his house-- it had been a while, anyway. It was past due. And he had to do _something_.  
He slowly made his way around the house, taking short trips to the walls to take down pictures and piling them on the coffee table. He’d always thought that it was a place of honor, to have your picture hung on the wall. But the truth of the matter was that they all blended into the walls over time, gathering dust. He brought his dust rag over and began wiping down the frames.   
With the pictures up on the walls, they became faded into the background. He didn’t spend much time indoors; he never looked at them, never studied them, never even glanced over them to spark good memories. They simply existed, over his head, while he lived his life looking at his feet. He picked up a frame and began wiping it down. He smiled over the picture of himself with Emily and Alice, the three of them striking a ridiculous pose in The Round Table. He set it aside and picked up the next.   
Central Plaza at dusk-- he’d really risked his neck for this picture, taking it from the top of Paulie’s house. He remembered the night of simple curiosity that had turned into a rapid scramble for the highest point he could reach. In his opinion, though, it was worth it. He smiled over the memory of Arlo seeing the picture and asking him, calmly, how the hell he’d taken it. He didn’t answer, and Arlo never asked again, not wanting to hear something illegal and arrest him. He set it aside and looked down at the next.   
He sighed, and his anxiety bubbled back up into his chest as he gazed on the picture of the Eastern wasteland. He wiped it down, remembering the conflicting feelings that came with hearing from his dad. He’d kept the letter- it was tucked behind the picture, inside the same frame. He just… He looked at the desolate wasteland, the greys and blacks and browns, the inhabitable landscape. He could remember, on the back of the picture in his dad’s messy handwriting, the words _The Great Begeondan!!_ scratched in black ink. He’d read the letter so many times that he had nearly memorized it. _It’s always dark, cold, and dangerous, but oh there are so many wonders._ So many wonders. So many wonders.   
How many wonders did it take to abandon your child?   
He’d always wondered, growing up, what was so good that his dad had had to abandon him for it. Now he knew. He finally knew. And it wasn’t even good- just _wonder_ ful, whatever that meant. _Why did I even hang this up?_ He wondered. At a loss for what to do with it, he set the frame picture-side down on the chair next to the couch. He took a moment to just breathe before picking up the next picture.   
_Oh._   
He smiled slightly.   
Him and Arlo, posing for the cover of a fake action novel on the stairs by the school. He smirked over the ridiculously dramatic looks on their faces, and at the memory of how many tries it took to get a picture where he wasn’t laughing.   
It had been such a weird dream, last night.   
He’d never had a _bad_ dream about Arlo before. He’d had plenty of generic anxiety dreams, sure, but never one about Arlo-- he’d always been reserved only for good dreams, or the nonsensical ones that you feel the need to tell everyone about afterward.   
He remembered the dream in the vaguest of senses. He remembered Arlo sitting by his side, he remembered the bandages wrapped around his palms, he remembered the heart knot in his hands. He couldn’t forget the fear in Arlo’s eyes. He sighed deeply and let his head fall back, resting it on the couch. _Arlo…  
Arlo was being weird yesterday,_ he remembered. He recalled the stunned expressions, the long silences, the weird questions, and the seeming… reluctance to walk the short distance with him. He’d just chalked it up to sleep deprivation-- after all, he’d stayed up all night keeping watch in the clinic. But he couldn’t quite get it out of his mind. He paused. _The clinic…?_   
The two-toned green walls of the clinic came to mind, and Avery’s eyes snapped open. _The green walls in my dream. I was- I was in the hospital bed, wasn’t I?_ He grabbed his crutches and stood up with record speed, hobbling quickly into his bedroom and grabbing his backpack. He flung it onto his bed, spilling its contents over his sheets, and sifted through them anxiously.   
_Where is it?  
Where is it?   
Where is it?_   
He combed through it once, twice, three times before the reality of the situation set in-- he didn’t have the heart knot. _I know I had it in the mines,_ he reasoned. _I talked to Remy about it. Maybe I dropped it in the mines? I’m sure that’s what happened. I got thrown by a robot. I’m sure I dropped it in the mines._ He was bent over the bed, arms propping his head up only inches above the sheets. His heartbeat thrummed wildly against his chest and he tried desperately to make it calm down. He combed over his chat with Arlo, grasping at straws to reassure himself. He remembered Arlo’s hesitation at the mention of the hospital, the odd look that he fixed him with--   
Arlo’s confused and conflicted expression flashed behind his eyelids. The noncommittal gesture back towards the clinic. His voice-- _“Do you not remember, then?”_   
Avery dropped his head and face planted into the sheets with a muffled scream.   
_What have I done?_


	8. if you're busy

While it had felt painfully long the day before, the dee-dee ride between Peach Plaza and the Civil Corps now seemed extremely short.  
It had taken hours to summon the courage to hail the scooter. Hours of agonizing, hours of debating, hours of checking _just one more time_ if the knot was in his bag.  
It wasn’t.  
He knew that.  
He kept hoping, though.  
He still wasn’t sure how he’d managed to make the walk to the stop. One minute he was panicking, the next he’d broken through it and told himself to be forward and deal with his problems instead of worrying over them in inaction. His old therapist would be proud, for sure, but he’d devolved back to panic as soon as he sat on the scooter. Now, he jolted back and forth along with the bumps in the road, a white-knuckle grip on the crutches in his lap, his bag feeling much too light on his back.  
_Just keep moving forward._  
He gripped the crutches tighter in hopes that it would steady his hands. He didn’t feel motivated, he didn’t feel confident, he didn’t want to face Arlo-- not like this, not about this.  
_Just rip off the bandaid,_ he told himself.  
The dee-dee rumbled to a stop outside the abandoned ruins, so, so terribly close to the Corps. He took a deep breath before leading with the crutches and standing shakily. He took one step forward before the scooter’s engine revved up and moved on, leaving him behind. He felt stranded.  
_That’s fine,_ he told himself, _I wasn’t going back anyway._  
Just… keep going.   
He made his way slowly to the Corps, dragging his feet but never stopping. He settled outside the doors. He saw his reflection in the glass and remembered the last time he did this. The last time he’d had this momentum, the last time he’d thought that he would finally talk to Arlo. He lifted a hand to the door and let it hover, remembering the crashing, sinking feeling, and his hand dropped.  
Not out of defeat, not out of surrender, but because of a creeping sense of deja vu. He took a step back and turned to the right, peering between the Corps and the clinic. He looked back by the well, and sure enough--  
He sighed, shallow and bitter, but unsurprised.  
Arlo and Nora stood at the well, chatting quietly, not two feet of distance between them at any given point. Avery tried to act natural, pretend he hadn’t seen them, swing towards the clinic and act like he hadn’t just come to demand answers from Arlo. But of course, because history repeats itself--  
“Avery!”  
Avery looked to the left, raising his eyebrows in mock surprise. Arlo was waving him over, Nora smiling absently.  
“Oh, _hey_ guys!” he called, keeping his voice high and unassuming. His chest was tight and uncomfortable. He saw how close they sat, how Nora had a hand hovering over Arlo’s arm, and he felt certain that Arlo had finally talked to Nora about her proposal. He swallowed around the tightness in his throat as he approached. “What’s up?” he asked. Arlo shrugged.  
“We were just hanging out, chatting about what happened in the mines, actually,” he said. “I was just telling her about that relic at the end, the one you saved our asses from.” Arlo was smirking, and Avery smiled tightly. Nora leaned forward, interest shining in her eyes.  
“That’s a bit strong,” Avery insisted. “I didn’t save your asses, I’m sure Remington and Sam could have handled it without me.”  
Arlo rolled his eyes. “Pfft, you’re still the one that killed it. That makes you a hero.” There was a glimmer in Arlo’s eye that Avery couldn’t place, but with Nora’s gaze on him, it only fed his discomfort. Avery tried to shrug it off, but Arlo continued. “No, really. You were amazing. Saved _my_ ass, specifically,” he pointed out. Avery gulped. Nora finally spoke.  
“Arlo told me you beat the robot back when it came after him,” she gushed. “Yelled at him to get out, and that it might have killed him if you hadn’t caught it.” Avery flushed under the praise and dramatic retelling as his chest clenched at the memories.  
He’d actually forgotten about that. He thought over it-- the adrenaline throwing him in front of Arlo, tearing panic out of his lungs.  
The certainty, for the first time, that he was in love.  
He felt the anxiety in his chest, but he looked at Arlo and Nora, and he took a deep breath and pushed it deeper down, subduing it slightly. He could handle this for now.  
“I wouldn’t have had to if he’d left the first time I told him,” he joked, side-eyeing Arlo. Arlo scoffed.  
“Oh, come on. I was leaving!” he insisted. Avery rolled his eyes, trying to find his rhythm again-- _their_ rhythm.  
He wouldn’t let this ruin their friendship.  
“I have never seen you walk so slow in your _life_ , Arlo darling,” he said with a snide smile. Nora laughed as Arlo floundered. His inner showman puffed out his chest, and his artificial confidence weighed down his anxiety for the time being. _I can do this._ “Now, okay, Nora-- I know you weren’t there,” he started, beginning to move his arms as he spoke, “so I’m going to try to set the scene for you. Imagine this-- a room with dirt walls and a dirt floor, a round room, with a ramp coming down one side--” he shaped the room with his hands in the air, pointing and outlining his memory-- “the ramp’s curved along the wall, like so. A tunnel about here. The tunnel’s the exit point. Remington and I find Arlo and the others maybe a hundred feet from the tunnel. I tell mister _captain of the Civil Corps_ here to get his injured ass out, and he immediately starts moving at an average rate of one mile per hour.” Nora laughed openly at that, while Arlo glowered.  
“I was doing my best!” he insisted weakly. Avery smiled.  
“Doing your best to check out the business end of the robot, maybe. I saw it going for him, and I--”  
He paused.  
The old anxiety pulsed up as he remembered the relic turning on Arlo, setting its sights, making its move--  
He cleared his throat and forgot how to continue.  
The rhythm was lost.  
“I heard it threw you?” Nora supplied. Arlo looked interested at that. Avery felt his chest unclench a bit.  
“Yeah, I didn’t dodge it soon enough,” he admitted with a grin. “It, ah-- caught me on the chest, with one of its legs, sent me flying clear across the room. Didn’t even realize I was in the air until I hit the ground.” He pulled up his sleeve on his right arm, exposing one of the few parts of the burns that didn’t need bandages. Jagged red lines bolted up to his shoulder. “The thing’s legs were electrocuted, too-- I was holding a metal hammer, it really jacked up my arms.” He’d expected Nora to lean in with interest, but he didn’t expect the gentle hold that Arlo took of his arm to examine the lines.  
“Wait, _what_?” Arlo barked. Avery blinked.  
“What is it?” Avery asked.  
“I thought the bandages were for scratches-- I didn’t know you’d been _electrocuted up the arms_!” Arlo’s voice was nearly shrill. Avery laughed nervously, taking his arm back. His skin hummed with warmth where Arlo’s calloused hands had been.  
“I mean, it wasn’t that big a deal,” he mumbled. “Didn’t get my heart, I’m still kicking.” Nora took a closer look then, too, obviously eager to look under the bandages but not about to ask.  
“And you kept fighting?” she asked, impressed. He shrugged.  
“I was in too deep to stop at that point,” he pointed out.  
“How did you know you’d be able to beat it?”  
“I mean, its head was glass and I was holding a hammer the size of my torso.”  
Arlo got a kick out of that, laughing and landing a hand gently between his shoulder blades. He usually went for the shoulder-- the small show of consideration for his burns was oddly touching, but Avery felt annoyed as he blushed. This whole “playing cool” thing would be a lot less difficult if Arlo would just keep his hands to himself.  
\---  
Arlo and Avery bantered for a short bit, sending quips back and forth, Arlo’s warm hand on Avery’s back a constant. Nora watched them carefully, a bittersweet feeling in her heart.  
_So that’s why he wouldn’t take it,_ she thought. There was no heat, no jealousy, no anger. Her rejected heart knot sat in her bag, and she quietly watched them interact. She saw how Arlo kept a hold on Avery, saw them both blushing. He’d never done that with her, no matter how close to him she sat or how often she reached to put a hand on his arm. He’d never looked at her that way.  
Somehow, she was okay with it. She felt calm. She felt… happy, even, to see Arlo so visibly comfortable with another person, even if it wasn’t her. She looked out past town and saw, behind the two of them, the sun’s colors bleeding into the sky.  
“Avery,” she said, piping up for the first time in a little while, “I’m sorry, we really got you sidetracked, didn’t we? Did you come up here looking for Arlo?” Avery froze, blushing again.  
“Oh, uh… “ he paused. “I just wanted to come say hi, since I was in the area.” She blinked.  
“You just happened to be in the highest part of Portia while you’re on crutches?” she asked. She didn’t mean it to come out accusatory, by any means, but she didn’t like it when people lied to her. Avery froze up a bit, his eyes taking an odd look.  
“I came up to see Dr. Xu. You know, about the electricity burns all up my arms? And the knee?” His tone was clipped, defensive. She swallowed.  
“I- right, of course, my bad. Are we keeping you?” Avery and Arlo both shot her an odd look. She pretended not to notice. Avery looked over his shoulder at the clinic and shrugged.  
“I should probably go see him,” he decided out loud. He made eye contact with her, and she couldn’t read his expression. “I’ll catch you later, Nora.” She waved.  
“Get well soon. We’ll be praying for you at the Church.” Avery turned to say bye to Arlo, who had drifted to his side as soon as he’d arrived. Arlo smirked and ruffled his hair before Avery could speak. Avery shrieked as he reeled back, Arlo laughing.  
“I’ll see you soon, I’m sure,” Arlo said with a laugh. Avery straightened his hair as well as he could, glowering.  
“What a _tragedy_ ,” he quipped sarcastically. “Don’t make me wait too long.” He turned and started to the clinic, sending a final wave over his shoulder. She noticed how Arlo’s hand between Avery’s shoulder blades lingered, how he maintained contact until Avery was out of reach. She noticed his eyes hanging on, noticed his fixation. She sighed as the doors slid shut and Arlo turned to look at her once more.  
“Arlo, why did you lie to me?” she asked. His eyes widened and his jaw hung open for a moment before snapping shut.  
“What do you mean?” he asked, ambling back to lean against the well beside her. She looked forward at the sunset instead of looking him in the eye. It was all sorts of oranges and pinks, purples and reds.  
“You told me that you didn’t want to be tied down while you’re training for the Flying Pigs. That you don’t want someone to leave behind.” He nodded.  
“I… Right.” She laughed lightly and gestured after Avery.  
“So what’s up with him, then?” she asked. His eyes widened.  
“What-- Avery? And me?” he asked, voice high. She nodded. “Wh-? No, no-- he’s just-- we’re friends! He’s one of my best friends,” he insisted, standing up straighter. She raised an eyebrow at him and he deflated a bit, slouching once more.  
“You’re a terrible liar,” she cooed. He groaned.  
“I know.” He stared off into the sky and didn’t speak for a few minutes. She waited.  
“I honestly just don’t know yet, I swear,” he started. “I’ve been trying to figure this out for… _much_ too long now how I feel about him, but-- there’s just so much going on, I haven’t figured it out yet. It’s… really confusing.”  
“That’s okay, Arlo. Really, it is. I’m happy to be your friend-- I just want you to be honest with me,” she said. She looked at him closely, his profile lit by the setting sun, and saw the worry in his brow. “If you end up with someone else…” she trailed off, looking at the clinic. “If you end up with _Avery_ , to be precise, I’ll be happy for you. I promise.” He looked over his shoulder at her, visibly relieved.  
“Thank you, Nora.” She smiled.  
“Of course. That’s what friends are for.”  
\---  
Running the workshop was a bit easier with the wheelchair. Avery could load and unload his furnaces, he could carry materials to his machines, he could feed wood into his civil cutters.  
It was also _a lot more difficult_ with the wheelchair. His arms got sore from working the wheels, he couldn’t reach the tools on his worktable, and the thing was so damn _wide_ that he had a hard time fitting between the machines in his yard.  
It was tolerable when he had help. Alice came by the day after he got it, and with her being his arms and legs, they worked well together. Sure, she couldn’t do the final assembly, but she learned how the machines worked quickly and Avery was able to sit at his work table and fit the pieces together. Emily came by the next day, in the afternoon. She was a bit slower on the uptake with the machines, but while they waited for materials to process she took it upon herself to tend to his neglected garden.  
“ _Really_ , Avery,” she admonished, “I’m surprised these things are still alive.” She touched the sisal so gently that it looked as though she was apologizing to it.  
But they couldn’t drop their lives for him. Alice had a business to run, Emily a farm to tend-- and Avery still had his workshop.  
It was easy to ignore what had happened with Arlo when he had Alice and Emily around to help him. When he was alone… he just wanted to keep busy. He rose at six, showered and got dressed by 6:30, and was ready to leave for the commerce guild by 7. He grabbed his mail on the way and thumbed through it at the mailbox. A letter from Albert stuck out to him.  
_Hey Avery,_  
How you doing after that adventure in the old mine shaft? Must've been fun, huh? Anyway, I've got a new job for you…   
Avery laughed a bit-- _Sure, fun._ He'd figured everyone knew what happened, at this point. He glanced over the diagrams enclosed in the letter, looked over the long, long list of complicated materials, and he shuddered, a bit overwhelmed. He looked back to the letter.  
_If you're busy, I'll just ask Higgins._  
-Albert  
Avery’s eyes widened a fraction. _Higgins._ If Higgins took all of the South Block development commissions… He’d never be able to save his ranking by the end of the season. Avery pursed his lips and studied the diagrams again, mentally breaking the pieces into their components. _If I get all of my furnaces going now… I could probably pull this off._ He took a deep breath and walked back into his yard, checklists and diagrams churning through his mind.  
\---  
Avery leaned over his work table, scanning over his multitude of lists. _The twelve bronze bars are smelting,_ he confirmed, checking the box but not crossing it off of the list. _The eight stainless aluminum bars, yes… the thirty-two carbon steel bars, yes…_ Two more checks. For the steel shells, he’d be needing some welding rods- he couldn’t forget those. He circled them. _Ironwood planks, I can get those going…_ He slid himself from his stool to his wheelchair, rolling to the box where he kept his lumber and pulling out some ironwood. _Now, where did I put that mucus…_  
\---  
Not all of the carbon steel was done, but it was enough to get started. The cutters were loaded up with enough steel for two plates, and he was busying himself with welding together a sturdy frame. The welding mask was clunky and hot- he felt himself overheating, but he pressed on.  
\---  
Two steel frames down. He looked over to the cutters and grimaced, knowing what a pain it was to wheel himself between his whirring machines. He looked down at the wheelchair, then up to the cutter. _It’s only about thirty feet,_ he reasoned. _That isn’t far._ He pursed his lips, casting his eyes across the wheat fields across the road. No Emily in sight. He lowered himself to his feet gently. If he just leaned on the inactive machines on the way, he could hobble over… it would be fine. He could handle it.  
\---  
He pretended he wasn’t as winded as he felt when he sat back down at his work table.  
\---  
The first steel shell was welded together, set next to the assembly station to wait for the other pieces. Avery wiped his brow before lowering the welding mask once more, sparking up the torch and leaning in close. He’d been feeling himself waning since he welded the first frame, but he’d chosen to ignore it. _I’ve been slacking lately,_ he’d convinced himself. _I need to catch up._  
It wasn’t until he swooned dramatically to the left that he jolted upright and turned off the torch. He set it down and felt his hands shaking in the oversized welding gloves. He tore them off. His arms felt as solid as air but heavy as bricks at the same time. He flipped up the mask and rubbed at his face, trying to collect himself, but he was fading- the world swayed around him. He had the sense to slip off of his stool, lest he fall off, but his wheelchair had been shoved to the side, out of reach. He sat in the grass. The blades poked through the denim of his pants and into the skin of his thighs. It itched, but he didn’t scratch it. Instead, he leaned forward, head in his hands, and waited for the world to stop spinning.  
He still felt woozy. He planted his hands in the grass instead, looking for something to hold onto. It helped, but it didn’t fix it. He laid down on his back. Even with the whole of him pressed into the dirt, it felt like the earth swayed beneath him. _Don’t pass out,_ he told himself, as though it would help. He remembered his panic attacks, and how the world felt as though it slipped away from him. He remembered the advice from his old therapist. _Deep breaths, Avery,_ she’d said. _It’ll help you reconnect._ He pulled in a breath and held it for a second before letting it shudder out. _In, out. In, out._ The grass dug into his exposed arms, tickled the back of his neck.  
After a while, he opened his eyes again. The sky was blue, and most importantly, it stood still. He shuddered out a sigh. _I can’t even handle a commission without blacking out,_ he thought bitterly. The world had stopped swirling, but frustration burned behind his eyes. _I shouldn’t be this tired, I can handle a simple-_ He brought his hands up to his face, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes. He groaned. He heard one of his machines slow to a halt- the ironwood planks were probably ready. He looked around and spotted his wheelchair, about fifteen feet away. He sat up slowly, feeling the weakness in his limbs. His head swirled. He flopped back onto the grass. _What’s the point?_ He wondered. _What’s the damn point? I’m tired._ He crossed his arms behind his head. The cold from the ground slowly seeped in through his jacket.  
_Fuck this._  
He made no move to get up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!! I finished the semester with good grades, and I'm ready to start writing again in my spare time. Apologies that this one took so long, even though I've had it half done for... some weeks lol. I tried to make it up to you guys a little bit by making it longer than usual-- this chapter is actually the longest one I've written yet! I'll try to update more frequently from now on. I can't make any promises about that since I am working and having a social life, but I'll be doing my best.   
> Let me know what you think in the comments! I love to hear what you guys have to say, and it really motivates me to keep writing for you all :)


	9. care package

It was all Sam’s idea. It was her bright idea to put together a care package, a little ‘goodie bag’ with some stuff from the clinic, some snacks, and some building materials that Avery would usually have to commission from them. Granted, Arlo and Remington had thought it was a great idea, too. But after they’d assembled it, after they’d visited Xu and Django and the hazardous ruins, after the bow had been put on top, it fell into Arlo’s hands.  
It quickly dawned on him that he wasn’t ready to face Avery yet.  
“I don’t know, guys,” he tried. “I should really be, ah… in the abandoned ruins.” Sam scoffed and Remington looked unimpressed.  
“It’ll only take you, like, ten minutes,” Sam pointed out. “He’s not far from town.” Arlo felt his nerves pricking up.  
“But I have to fill a commission! For, uh, copper ore.” Remington shook his head.  
“No, I took that commission. I collected the materials last night.”  
“Who’s it for? You could deliver the basket on the way.”  
“It’s for Xu. I already turned it in.”  
“Oh.”  
Sam looked between them, clearly moving from annoyed to concerned.  
“What’s the big deal, Arlo? Did something happen with you and Avery? I thought you’d be happy to go see him,” she said, eyebrows bunched together. “Especially after he pulled that stunt for you in the mines.” Remington pursed his lips. Arlo gulped.  
“No, no, it’s just--” he paused and studied the basket. _Avery doesn’t even know. I can keep my cool._ He huffed. “Okay, I’ll do it.” Sam sighed.  
“Okay, good for you, lazy bones. I’m off to the hazardous ruins, got a commission to fill. I’ll see you two tonight.” She threw up a peace sign and waltzed out, punching gloves and brass knuckles shining at her hip.  
As soon as the doors slid shut, Remington fixed Arlo with an unimpressed gaze.  
“Are you really just trying to avoid him now?” he asked. Arlo crossed his arms.  
“I’m not avoiding him,” he insisted. “I’m just… okay, maybe I am, but only a little bit.” Remington rolled his eyes. “But it’s just until I figure this all out, okay? I just need space to think.” Arlo leaned back against the wall, staring at the training dummy to avoid Remington’s expression.  
“Arlo, you’ve had about a week by now,” Remington pointed out. “I get that these things take time, but you can’t just cut him off.” Arlo huffed.  
“I know! I know. I’m going to go see him. I’m just…” he trailed off, waving a hand through the air.  
“You’re nervous.”  
Arlo sighed and closed his eyes.  
“Yeah.”  
He felt Remington’s hand land on his shoulder.  
“That’s alright. You can be nervous. Just don’t go taking it out on him.” He dropped his hand and strode over to the commission board, scanning them lightly before snatching one off and tucking it into his pocket. Arlo looked at the basket on the table and picked it up, swinging it aimlessly side to side. Remington shot him a look from the corner of his eye. “Quit dawdling or you’ll never go,” he pointed out with a grin. Arlo opened his mouth to argue but stopped when he realized that Remington was probably right. He sighed.  
“Yeah, yeah, alright. I’ll be back soon.”  
Out the doors and to the dee-dee stop, he could already see the scooter approaching when Remington tore out of the Corps.  
“Arlo! Hold up!” he called. Arlo turned and waited, the basket held over his shoulder.  
“What’s up? Did something fall out?” he asked, lowering the basket to look closer. Remington shook his head.  
“No, but you forgot something. Here,” he said, and he dropped something into the basket. Arlo’s eyes widened. The heart knot.  
“Wait- Hey!” he yelled, but Remington was already jogging off.  
“I’ve got to go fill my commission, I’ll see you tonight!” he called. Arlo opened his mouth to yell again, but the scooter sputtered to a stop beside him and the driver looked at him expectantly. He snapped his mouth shut and climbed in.  
“Peach Plaza, please,” he grumbled, snatching the knot from the top of the basket - _where anyone could have seen it_ \- and stuffing it into his pocket.  
\---  
He felt himself grow nervous as he approached the workshop. He wasn’t sure why- Avery didn’t know what he’d done, nothing had changed between them. He was just… _confused._ He looked over the yard- multiple machines and furnaces were running, and a half-finished _something_ sat on the work table. Avery had obviously been keeping busy. Arlo absently wondered if he was allowed to start working again as he knocked on the door.  
He waited for a moment. No response. _Maybe he’s in town?_ He thought.  
He knocked again, this time harder.  
“Avery?” he called.  
“Oh, hey, Arlo,” called Avery’s voice from the yard. Arlo jolted slightly in surprise. He swept his eyes over the machines but didn’t spot him.  
“I’m, uh, by the work table,” Avery’s voice continued. Arlo narrowed his eyes and walked towards it. As he passed a grinder, Avery came into view. He was lying flat in the grass, legs angled awkwardly and one arm thrown over his forehead. He waved weakly as Arlo gawked in surprise.  
“Wait- what are you doing on the ground?” Arlo asked. Avery sighed quietly.  
“I, uh, I got really dizzy while I was welding,” he admitted. “So I laid down.” Arlo’s eyes hardened a bit, and he set the basket down on a nearby box.  
“You were pushing yourself too hard, weren’t you?” he demanded, reaching down with his good arm to help Avery sit up. Avery groaned, but he took the hand, sitting himself up slowly. He held his head in his hands.  
“I’m fine, Arlo, I just- I just needed to lay down for a minute.”  
“How long have you been laying out here?”  
“Not… _that_ long,” Avery decided, squinting in thought. Arlo scoffed and held out his good hand again.  
“Okay, up. On your good leg.” Avery groaned again but took his hand. His palm was calloused and a bit rough, and very, very cold. He wobbled up onto his good leg, propping himself against the motionless grinder.  
“Thanks-” he started, but he lost his grip on the machine. He lurched to the side with a small yelp of panic. Arlo dove forward, his good arm barely shooting out in time to catch Avery around the waist. Avery’s flailing arms locked onto his neck, and then they stopped. Avery hung in the air, staring up at Arlo with his eyes wide and shockingly blue. Arlo froze.  
“Um,” he started intelligently.  
“Uh,” Avery responded. He was bright red. Arlo probably was, too. Arlo pulled him up to his foot again. “Sorry,” Avery added. “I don’t- I’m still a little dizzy, I think.” Arlo looked at the wheelchair, worried that in the time it would take him to retrieve it, Avery could fall again. He still had an arm around Avery’s waist. He paused for a moment.  
_It’s a bit direct, but it’ll get the job done,_ he told himself.  
He leaned down onto a knee and pressed his shoulder into Avery’s midsection, lifting him up on his good shoulder in one move. Avery squawked indignantly.  
“I- _what!_ ” He screeched, bent ungracefully over his shoulder. Arlo held tight to his legs and started walking towards the house. Avery’s arms thudded on his back. “Arlo put me down right now _I am a grown ass man-_ ” Arlo groaned.  
“Oh, shut up,” he said, fumbling with the doorknob with his bad arm. “You’re injured. Just-” Avery knocked him gently in the back of the head with an elbow- “let me _help_ you!”, he spat. He finally fumbled the door open, not bothering to take off his boots before he strode in towards Avery’s bedroom. He kicked the door open and walked past the closet, leaning forward and flopping Avery down onto his bed. Avery stared up at him, bright red, eyes wide.  
“Now get some rest,” Arlo grumbled. It occurred to him at that moment that he’d never actually been into Avery’s bedroom before. Avery frowned and sat up on the edge of the bed.  
“No, I- I have to get back out there and finish that commission,” he argued, peering out his bedroom door. Arlo crossed his arms.  
“No! Really, Avery, you’re not well. You need some rest, especially after blacking out in the grass for hours.” Avery rolled his eyes.  
“It wasn’t hours.”  
“You’re _freezing._ You’ll get sick if that happens again.”  
“It won’t!”  
“And how do you know that?”  
Avery stared resolutely out the door, lips pressed into a thin line. Arlo looked down at him, waiting for an answer, waiting for him to try to stand. After a moment of tense silence, Avery sighed and shut his eyes.  
“Listen, Arlo, the town is in a key developmental stage right now. The construction of the South Block isn’t only a huge opportunity for the town, it’s a huge opportunity for me. This is the worst time for me to be on bed rest.” Arlo cocked his head to the side.  
“That’s it? That’s your reasoning for putting your health at risk?”  
“If I don’t finish this commission, then I can’t take another, and Higgins will get all of the good ones, and he’ll take my number one spot on the workshop ranking.”  
“Wait- so you’re doing this to yourself for the sake of a _ranking_?” he asked, bewildered. Avery wouldn’t meet his eyes, mouth pressed into a flat line as he stared resolutely at the wall. Arlo waited in silence for a moment, but Avery didn't say a thing. _Oh,_ Arlo realized. _Something's going on._ He hesitated, then sat down next to him on the bed. He set a hand lightly between Avery’s shoulder blades. “Hey, Ave,” he started. Avery stared ahead. “You can talk to me.” He heard Avery sniff and felt a tremor go through his shoulders. Arlo froze up. _Oh, lights, is he crying? I don’t know how to handle-_  
“Sorry, sorry,” Avery groaned, wiping at his eyes. “I’m just really frustrated.” Arlo was near petrified, having no idea what to say. _Comfort. How do I comfort?_ He remembered his stilled hand on Avery’s back and began rubbing it in circles, hoping it would be enough for now. They sat in quiet for a minute Avery not knowing how to find his words, Arlo not having any words to begin with. Avery shuddered out a deep breath, and Arlo raked through his memories, trying to remember how Remington handled outbursts from his friends.  
“You going to tell me what’s really going on now?” Arlo asked. Avery shrugged.  
“It’s just- This workshop was my dad’s, you know?” he started, voice quiet. Arlo nodded. Avery rubbed at his eyes again. “So I just- I don’t know, I feel like… I have to entirely remake it. I have to make a new name for it. I have to give it a new reputation, or else… everyone’s just going to see Pa instead of me.” Arlo knew next to nothing about Avery’s dad. All he knew was that he used to own the workshop, and nobody knew he had a son until Avery moved in. Avery sighed deeply and leaned forward on his elbows, resting his head in his hands. “I want to live somewhere that I’m proud of, not... “ He trailed off for a moment. “Not a monument to whatever the hell it is that he ditched me for. I need to make it mine, so nobody could look at it and think of it as his.”  
Arlo paused, not knowing at all what to say to that. He’d never… it was clear that something was wrong with Avery’s relationship with his father. But Arlo never knew what. He never asked. He gulped, figuring that saying something was better than sitting in silence.  
“Avery…” he started. _No, wait, he needs a hug. No, wait, we’re sitting._ Avery’s hands were clenched tight in his lap, and Arlo reached over and set his hand loosely on top of one. Avery took a moment to react, slowly opening his hand and letting Arlo loosely hold it. Avery studied their hands for a moment before rearranging, interlocking their fingers and squeezing tight. Arlo felt a pang in his chest. “You’re too hard on yourself,” he sighed.  
“I- what?” Avery asked, peering at him from the corner of his eye.  
“You heard me. If you think this place isn’t your own yet, you’re blind. You’ve remade the place. And, hell, you’ve remade half the town, too. This is your space already; your ranking in the guild won’t change that.”  
Avery turned a bit and looked at him properly, finally making eye contact. His eyes were red and his cheeks were blotchy, but his lips cracked up into a small smile. He leaned forward and thunked his head into Arlo’s chest, wrapping his arms loosely around his waist. Arlo only froze up for a moment before wrapping his arms around Avery’s shoulders.  
“Thank you, Arlo,” Avery mumbled into his chest. Arlo felt something blooming in his chest as he smiled.  
“Of course.” Arlo began rubbing his back again. _Remington would be much too pleased with himself about this,_ he thought. He looked down at Avery’s purple hair and ruffled it lightly, earning a small laugh. Remington’s questions echoed back to him from the back of his mind.  
_Do you want to hold him?_  
Arlo felt the weight and the warmth of Avery against him. He squeezed a little tighter, resting his cheek against the lavender locks. He smelled nice, like roses and sawdust.  
_Yes._  
Avery pulled back, wiping his eyes one last time and taking a deep breath. He sighed loudly, flopping back onto his bed.  
“Sorry about crying on you,” he mumbled with a small smile. Arlo grinned.  
“It’ll dry.”  
_Do you want to kiss him?_  
Arlo held his lip lightly between his teeth, averting his gaze before Avery noticed him blushing.  
_Yes._  
He looked around the room, taking a moment to notice the details. Art knotwork cluttered the walls, some from gifts and some from spelunking. Over the desk, Avery’s builder license was framed. The glass shone, recently polished. Arlo sighed and stood. “You stay here, I’ll be right back.”  
“Where are you going?” Avery called as he walked out through the living room. Arlo didn’t answer. He popped outside into the chilly autumn evening and grabbed the wheelchair, spinning it around and wheeling it in to the bedroom.  
“Come on, get in,” he said. Avery gave him an odd look but obliged without question, lowering himself into the chair. Arlo wheeled them around with extra energy, moving quick and taking dramatic corners, trying to lighten the mood. He noticed Avery grinning as he held onto the chair for dear life. They burst back out into the yard, and came to a halt next to the work table. Arlo clapped his hands together.  
“Alright darling, we’ve got three arms and three legs between the two of us. That’s an upgrade from your usual two each, so we should be able to get this done today.” A surprised laugh finally burst out of Avery, bouncing clearly through the yard.  
Arlo considered that a win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya! This chapter isn't as long as I meant to make it, but I've had little inspiration to write lately and I figured that posting a shorter chapter was better than not posting at all.   
> Pretty please leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts!! I love hearing from you guys and seeing you react to my work, it's a huge motivation to write :')   
> Thank you for reading!


	10. tales of barnarock

“Okay, so once the carbon steel is done processing, we can finish these shells-”  
“And how long does steel take?”  
“A long time. It’ll be a few more hours. Most of my furnaces are doing steel right now.”  
Arlo looked over the yard, spotting no less than ten furnaces of various sizes chugging away. He gulped.  
“Aaaalright. What else can we do in the meantime, then?” Arlo asked. Avery sat at his worktable, diagrams spilled across the surface, lists bulleted and crossed and crumpled all around him. Avery hummed and dug through the papers, finding a diagram he hadn’t started on. He worked through it systematically, breaking it into large parts, and the larger parts into smaller parts, and the smaller parts into their raw materials- he clearly had a system. Arlo watched him work, watched him roll the pen mindlessly against his bottom lip as he thought, watched him do the math in his head. Looking down at his notepads, his eyes were shielded by long, dark eyelashes. His freckles were faded since the end of summer, but this close, Arlo could still see them dotting his cheeks. Avery moved the pen from his lip to write, and his golden lip ring caught the light.  
_Does that get cold?_ Arlo thought. _If I kissed him, would it be warm from his skin or cold from the air?_ A cold shock went up his spine as Avery looked up and met his eyes. Arlo pursed his lips, his eyebrows high, trying to act like someone who had _not_ just been thinking about kissing their friend.  
Avery, luckily, was oblivious.  
“So we need eight ironwood and seven bronze bars,” he said nonchalantly. Arlo quickly straightened up and nodded, hoping he seemed attentive. He gulped as Avery looked down at his lists once more. _I’m here to help, not gawk,_ he told himself. But Avery pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth, dragging it out slowly and just grazing the piercing, and Arlo found himself riveted. Avery trailed down a list with the back of his pen.  
“You going to get that, Mr. Legs?” he asked, eyes on his papers and a smirk tugging the corners of his mouth. Arlo blinked. He stood quickly, nodding.  
“Yeah of course,” he rushed, trying to play it cool. “I was just- I was just waiting to see if there was anything else yet.” Avery raised his eyebrows and hummed, clearly not believing him, but didn’t say a thing. His smirk said enough. Arlo walked over to the storage bins that lined the house and paused. He sheepishly turned back towards Avery.  
“I don’t know which boxes they’re in,” he admitted. Avery laughed without turning to face him.  
“Arlo, they’re labeled.”  
“Oh.”  
He felt himself flush as he bent down closer, spotting the labels next to the latch on each box. He could still hear Avery snickering across the yard, and he sighed. It was going to be a long day.  
\---  
The hours blurred together into the sweat-streaked sunset, pieces coming together slowly and steadily as the sun sank in the sky. Arlo and Avery sat in the grass behind Avery’s house, feet dangling over the small stone wall overlooking the wild llamas. The sun hovered, holding its breath before its nightly kiss with the horizon.  
Avery sighed wistfully. The sound made Arlo smile.  
“How long d’you think until the last of the steel is ready?” he asked, casting a sideways glance at Avery. Avery shrugged noncommittally.  
“Iunno. An hour? Maybe less, but I wouldn’t bet on it.”  
“What should we do until then?”  
“What do you want to do?”  
Arlo laid back into the grass, looking up at the gently swaying leaves in the trees.  
“Tell me about Barnarock. I’ve never been.” Avery turned, soft eyes regarding him with a gentle smile. The sun cast the tips of his hair in a golden light, creating a halo that rivaled the shine in his eyes. A shiver coursed through Arlo, starting in his chest and spreading, something warm and unexpected.  
“Well… it’s very hot there.”  
“Yeah?”  
“Yeah. And dry. My aunt and I would have to stay in the basement on bad days because it got so hot. But…” He turned, looking at the sunset again. The sun had finally met the horizon’s embrace, sinking into the arms of the Earth. A small sigh slipped through Avery’s lips. “It was nice. The towns I lived in were nice, good communities, kind people… very generous. Nobody was left on their own.”  
Arlo’s eyes had slipped shut. Avery’s voice washed over him as he described the architecture, recounted tales from school, talked about the little bakeries and the owners of the corner shops. How he had to sneak past his aunt’s defenses to get into the ruins, how his uncle found out and taught him how to defend himself. How his cousin taught him how to use a hammer, how his neighbors taught him how to bake…  
“Do you miss it?”  
Avery didn’t answer for a while. He watched the sun slip lower and lower, watched the colors shift and blend in the sky.  
“Arlo,” he said instead, “you’re missing the sunset.”  
Arlo sat up, somehow closer than he was before. Their shoulders brushed and their fingers overlapped in the grass. They watched the sun sink below the horizon in silence.  
“I miss the melons,” he said finally. “And I miss my aunt. But not much else.” Arlo nodded.  
“I’ve heard stories about cantadurian melons,” he mumbled. Avery grinned.  
“It’s because they’re the best. My uncle grew them before he died.”  
“I’m sorry for your loss.”  
“S’alright. Happens every day.”  
Arlo didn’t even notice Avery leaning into his shoulder until he sat back up.  
“We should probably go check on the steel,” he sighed, turning to look at the yard. “Can you help me back into my chair?”  
\---  
Avery fiddled with the settings on his automated industrial cutter, setting the blades into motion. He sat back and stretched his arms toward the now-black sky, his back cracking loudly.  
“We just have to wait for these now, and then I can weld the last shell and we can get it assembled.” Arlo nodded, leaning on the wheelchair’s handle.  
“What now, then?” Avery squinted up at him.  
“You hungry? We can heat dinner back up.” Arlo remembered the leftover spicy spaghetti inside the workshop and his mouth watered.  
“Fantastic idea. You’re a visionary.” He carefully backed Avery out of the rows of machines, wondering how he managed to do this without help- the chair hardly fit. Once free, he wheeled them into the house with more pep than he’d had in hours, thoughts of spaghetti spurring him on.  
They sat at the bar, Avery aimlessly spinning his stool back and forth as he ate. They sat in silence; not tense nor awkward, but tired. It had been dark for hours but Arlo would be damned if he’d give up when they were so close to finishing. Arlo thought over their conversations that day, looking for something other than the crackling of the fire to fill the quiet of Avery’s living room. He swiveled his barstool to face Avery.  
“So what’s your aunt like?” he asked, just as Avery took a bite. Avery grunted and took a moment to swallow.  
“My aunt Kendra? She’s the sweetest. Spunky little blacksmith.” Arlo hummed with a smile.  
“So that’s where you learned to make swords?” Avery shook his head and laughed.  
“No, no no no. No kids allowed near the forge. I didn’t learn to make them until I came here.” He pushed the noodles around aimlessly on his plate. “She was always very… protective of me. It was a bit stifling, but I always knew it was from a place of love. I guess it would be really scary, having your sister die suddenly and then having to parent a preteen out of the blue.” Arlo nodded slowly, processing this.  
“Her sister… another aunt?”  
“My mother.”  
Arlo jolted. “Oh, I’m so sorry-”  
“No, no, it’s fine, it was a long time ago. Over a decade.” Avery stared at his plate, eyes cloudy with fatigue and heavy thought. “Motorbike crash. Very sudden, very violent.”  
“I… You don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to, but what about your dad-?”  
Avery shrugged noncommittally. “Dad left the day after the funeral.”  
Arlo blinked. “Left?”  
“Yeah, just… left. Didn’t come home, so I moved in with Aunt Ken.” Arlo leaned his weight on his elbows, looking as though he’d been punched in the stomach.  
“He just- bailed? The day after-?”  
“Yeah. The letter from him telling me this place was mine was the first I’d heard from him in eleven years.”  
“Wait, so you were-” Arlo did some quick math in his head. “You were thirteen?”  
“It was rough. I didn’t really… I didn’t really stop expecting him to come back, not until he’d been gone for about six years.”  
“What the hell has he been doing?” Avery shrugged.  
“No idea. He’s somewhere in the wastes now, to my knowledge, but… all I really know is that he was here for a while, and now he isn’t. Presley probably knows more than I do. I never bothered asking.” He forked another large bite into his mouth, eyes dimly focused on the drink hutch across the bar. He didn’t notice the crestfallen look on Arlo’s face, the way he stared at his plate, the way his grip on his fork turned his knuckles white.  
Arlo stood. Avery snapped out of his reverie, eyes following him up.  
“Where you going?” he asked, confused. Arlo took a step over and wrapped his arms around him, pulling Avery into his chest. Avery froze for a moment before setting down his fork and calmly wrapping his arms around Arlo’s midsection. “What’s this about, then?” he asked, pleasantly confused. Arlo squeezed him tighter, one hand holding the back of Avery’s head protectively.  
“I just- I don’t- he’s a bag of shit. You deserved better. I hope you know that.” Avery melted into the touch, his arms drooping down Arlo’s back a fraction.  
“Oh,” he mumbled into his chest. Talking about the incident didn’t really incite much emotion in him, but this... He tucked his face in closer to the fabric of Arlo’s uniform, feeling the five stages of grief sweep over him in quick succession. His eyes welled in an instant, surprised to tears by the show of affection.  
_I’m in love,_ he thought to himself. _Fuck, I’m in love._ A strained laugh bubbled out of his chest, even as tears ran down his cheeks and wicked away into Arlo’s jacket. _I’m so fucked._  
“Sorry I keep crying on you,” he mumbled, voice weak and uncertain. Arlo shook his head and carded his fingers through Avery’s hair.  
“It’s okay. I’m just… I’m glad that you know you can talk to me. Thank you for trusting me.” Avery squeezed him.  
“I don’t trust anyone more.”  
\---  
“Well, Arlo,” Avery chimed, “You’ve completed your first workshop commission. This is way more complicated than the test Presley gave me, so I think it’s safe to say you qualify for a builder’s license now.” Arlo laughed, leaning heavily on the back of Avery’s chair and admiring their finished piece on the assembly platform.  
“I think I’m content in my current career path, but when my midlife crisis rolls around, keep an eye out for some new competition.” Avery tilted his head back all the way, looking at Arlo upside-down with a grin on his face.  
“Hey, Arlo.”  
“Hm?”  
“Let’s go tub out on the couch.”  
“The word ‘tub’ has never been more appealing.”  
\---  
Arlo sprawled across the couch, his head resting on the armrest and Avery tucked up under his arm. Avery's head rested over his heartbeat. They may have been more flustered regarding the situation had they not been half asleep.  
“What time even is it?” Arlo asked, fighting to keep his eyes open.  
“At least two in the morning. Maybe closer to three.” Arlo groaned loudly.  
“I’m going to have to walk all the way back to the Corps,” he whined. “The dee-dees don’t run past midnight.” Avery shrugged.  
“You can stay the night here,” he suggested casually. He realized the implications of what he’d said a moment too late and looked up to see Arlo regarding him with raised eyebrows. “No, wait- I mean- there’s a spare bed, Arlo, don’t look at me like that,” he laughed, covering his mouth with one hand. Arlo dropped his head back and chuckled, looking fondly at the ceiling.  
“I think I’ll take you up on that,” he decided as his eyes drooped. Avery had stopped laughing and gone quiet. He looked up at Arlo again, but this time he looked concerned.  
“You don’t think- that won’t bother Nora, will it?” he asked, anxious. Arlo’s eyes went wide with confusion.  
“Nora? What do you-” he stopped. “Wait. Avery, I didn’t tell you? I turned her down.” It was Avery’s turn to look surprised.  
“Wait, _what_? When I saw you guys together last, I just figured that-”  
“No, no, no, we’re just friends still. I’m not into her, it just took me a bit to be certain.” Avery nodded slowly, leaning his head tentatively back onto Arlo’s chest.  
_I wonder if that means I have a shot,_ he thought to himself.  
_This whole time, he thought he didn’t have a shot?_ Arlo thought to himself. They sat in silence for a few minutes, exhaustion tugging at them from all angles. _I have the heart knot,_ Arlo reminded himself. _I could do it now._ This late, his nerves had gone to sleep, and the idea wasn’t as daunting as it had been before. He sighed.  
“Hey, Ave?” he asked.  
Avery didn’t move.  
Arlo picked his head up to look at Avery. His eyes were shut, lips slightly parted, chest rising and falling slowly. He was soundly asleep. Arlo flushed lightly, smiling as he gently rustled Avery’s hair. _Lights, he’s adorable._ Avery squeezed his eyes tighter at the touch but didn’t wake. His long, dark eyelashes, his lightly freckled cheeks, his golden piercings, his plush lips… Arlo felt a swell of affection course through him. _Maybe I should let him sleep here,_ he thought, but he changed his mind when he set his head back on the less-than-comfortable armrest. He sat up, gently sitting Avery up with him and maneuvering him onto his shoulder once more. Avery woke, but this time he had no fight left. He groaned as Arlo stood and lifted him into the air, letting his arms dangle like cooked noodles behind his back. Arlo laughed.  
“Sorry to wake you, princess,” he said with a smirk, walking into Avery’s bedroom. Avery’s quiet chuckle turned into a cry of surprise as Arlo dumped him unceremoniously onto his bed. He bounced once on the mattress, flopping out like a starfish on the plush comforter.  
“Arlooooooo,” he whined. Arlo crossed his arms.  
“What is it?” he asked.  
“You were such a good pillow, Arlo.” Arlo smiled down at him, a warm feeling blooming out in his chest.  
“Sorry, but your couch wasn’t very comfortable.” Avery huffed.  
“The couch was _doing its best_ ,” he insisted. A surprised laugh bubbled out of Arlo’s chest. “The spare bed should already be made, though. Do you want to borrow some pajamas?” Arlo snorted at the idea and Avery propped himself up on his elbows. “What’s funny about borrowing pajamas?” Arlo rolled his eyes.  
“Avery… you’re short.”  
The noise of indignation that Avery made was worth any mild offense he’d caused.  
“I am not _short_!” he insisted. “I’m only _one inch_ below average, mind you. It’s not my fault you’re insanely tall.” Arlo shook his head, smiling.  
“Okay, okay, I apologize, you’re of insanely average height, Avery. I’d like to accept your offer of pajamas.” He took a pair of patterned pajama pants from the drawer that Avery pointed him to, then stopped by his bed on the way out. “Do you need me to get you anything?” he offered. Avery rubbed at his eyes.  
“No, I think I’m set. Thank you, though.” He sat up and held his arms out, and Arlo walked into the hug. He ruffled Avery’s hair affectionately.  
“Night, Ave,” he mumbled. Avery sighed contentedly.  
“Night, Arlo.” Arlo had a strong urge to press a kiss to the top of Avery’s head, to his forehead, to his cheeks, to his lips. It caught him off guard, and he took a step back in surprise. With one last small smile, he stepped out the door and into the living room. He closed Avery’s door for him before waltzing into the side room and changing into the borrowed pajama pants; once he had them on, he nearly laughed. They fit like capris. He lowered himself into the plush bed, wrapping the comforter over himself, and found himself cocooned in the smell of Avery. He stared up at the ceiling, considering.  
He thought about Avery. About his story, about his smile, about his dimples, about his passions. He thought about the feeling of his soft hair when he ruffled it, he thought about the piercing on his lip, he thought about the calloused feeling of his palms and the strength he carried in his arms. He thought about the feeling of his cheek when he held Avery’s face in his hand. He thought about the sparkle in his ice-blue eyes. Arlo drew in a deep breath and held it for a moment, releasing it in a large sigh.  
_I might be in love._  
The feelings swirling around in his chest solidified into something concrete, something certain, something tangible. It was, in a word, terrifying. But…  
He rolled onto his side and buried his face in Avery’s sheets, surrounding himself with the scent of him and thinking about his smile.  
The feeling in his chest melted, stretching out and getting comfortable in Arlo’s heart. He sighed.  
_I could get used to this._


	11. it's a date

_Warm._ A twitch of the eyelid, a grasp for the blanket, pulling cold feet in closer to the body.   
Arlo drew in a deep breath. The sheets smelled nice.   
He could open his eyes. He could get up and seize the day and whatnot, but the warmth of the bed had spread bone-deep, pulling him in and cocooning him in comfort. Curiosity overruled comfort, however, and he cracked an eye open, wondering the time. The first thing he noticed was the blanket he’d drawn up to his face- it was a clean white, shining in the morning light. His brow furrowed. _My blanket is blue._ He blinked and turned bleary eyes upward, noticing unfamiliar walls and unfamiliar picture frames. His eyes widened in confusion-  
 _You can stay the night here,_ Avery’s voice echoed in the back of his head.   
_Oh. Right. Avery’s place._  
Slowly, Arlo unwound himself from the blankets and sat up, the chilled air an assault on warm skin. He shivered, quickly standing to put his layers from the night before back on.   
He left the bed made, and the borrowed pajamas folded on the pillow. The clock in the living room told him it was 6:43 AM, and he nodded, proud of himself for waking up on schedule even after the long night. He stopped in the middle of the living room, eyes on the front door. _Do I just... leave, now? That seems rude._ He eyed the coffee table, looking for a scrap of paper. _Maybe I could leave a note…_ He tousled the papers on the table, but nothing looked unimportant and no pens revealed themselves to him. He looked up at the bedroom door. _Suppose I could just wake him up._ He padded lightly to the door, unused to the dramatic creak in the floorboards here, and turned the knob slowly and silently. He cracked the door open and peered in.   
The room was flooded with light. Avery’s east-facing windows had their curtains pulled wide open, and the golden shine illuminated every corner. In the middle of the room, only a mop of lilac hair visible above the fluffy white blanket, Avery slept. He laid on his front, arms wound around his pillow, blanket tucked up to his shoulders and a light snore dragging out of him every now and then. Arlo smiled fondly and walked in, sitting gingerly on the edge of the bed.   
“Avery,” he mumbled, hand drifting towards his shoulder. No reaction. Arlo set his hand where he assumed Avery’s shoulder was, under all of the plush blanket protecting him from the cold. “Avery,” he tried again. Avery’s breathing remained slow and even- he didn’t so much as twitch. Arlo huffed out a quiet laugh and lifted his hand, plopping it into Avery’s hair. “Ave,” he said, louder this time. A small, tired sound came from the mess of purple hair, and Arlo gave it a ruffle. Finally, Avery moved, pushing himself up on his elbows and shaking Arlo’s hand off. He turned to look at Arlo as he laughed.   
“...Arlo?” he grumbled, voice still low and rough from sleep. His eyes were only half-open, and the folds in his pillowcase had left red lines across his cheek. Arlo smiled, a warm feeling in his chest.   
“Good morning, sunshine. I’m heading out,” he told him. Avery hummed.   
“What time is it?” he asked.   
“Near seven.” Avery groaned in response and rolled over, sitting up to face him properly. The blanket fell away and Arlo’s eyes widened.   
“Fuck, I have to get up,” he complained.   
“Oh,” Arlo said intelligently, trying not to focus on the fact that Avery was shirtless. Light bandages were wound around his arms, but his torso was bare, and Arlo could feel the blush creeping up his neck. _This is normal,_ he told himself. _People sleep without shirts on. Hell, I slept without a shirt on. Stop staring at him._ He quickly turned his eyes to the pictures on the wall, trying to act inconspicuous. “I- ah, thanks for letting me crash here,” he blurted. Avery smiled, slow and sleepy.   
“Any time. Thank you for all the help, I wouldn’t have been able to finish it without you.” Arlo nodded.   
“Of course,” he said, still staring at the wall. The blush had reached his ears. Avery tilted his head to the side.   
“You okay, dude?” he asked, eyebrows raising. Arlo’s heart nearly stopped and he finally met Avery’s eyes, feigning normalcy.   
“What, me? Yeah, of course,” he lied, trying not to look at Avery’s chest.   
_Lights, he’s muscular._   
Avery huffed a laugh through his nose. “Okay, dude, if you insist. I’m going to get dressed so I can run into town and turn in that commission.” Arlo stood and, feeling risky, plopped his hand back into Avery’s hair to give it another tousle. Avery shrieked.   
“See you soon,” Arlo said with a smile. Avery groaned, shaking his hand off and desperately finger-combing his hair into place.   
“What a tragedy. I’ll see you.”   
Arlo looked over his shoulder and met Avery’s eyes as he stepped through the bedroom door. The flash of ice blue, the coy smile he’d been trying to hide, the sparkle of gold on his lip--   
The toned muscles, his arms flexed as they raised above his head in a stretch--  
Arlo’s heartbeat didn’t return to normal until he was almost home.  
\---  
As soon as Arlo stepped through the doors of the Civil Corps, he met Remington’s expectant gaze. He stood at the commission board, a paper forgotten in his hand.   
“Wow, staying nights already, are we?” he joked, a grin on his face. Arlo flushed immediately and groaned as he walked past him into the lobby.   
“Guest bed, Rem. Get your mind out of the gutter.” Remington rolled his eyes dramatically.   
“You’re telling me you spent nearly _twenty-four hours_ alone with him, you had the knot with you and everything, and you _still_ didn’t say anything to him?” Arlo shrugged, arms tucked to his chest, and sat down on a lounge chair.   
“I don’t know,” he sighed. “It never felt like the right time.” Remington scoffed.   
“No such thing.” Arlo raised an eyebrow.   
“What?”   
“You heard me. No such thing as _the right time_ ,” he repeated, using air-quotes for emphasis. “The right time is whenever you do it. If you keep waiting for the perfect moment, it’ll never happen.” Arlo opened his mouth to argue, but couldn’t think of anything to counter. He groaned, not wanting to admit it but knowing that he was right.   
“I’ll bring it with me next time I see him. That good enough for you?” Remington shrugged and looked over his commission sheet again, heading for the door.   
“It’s not about whether it’s good enough for me, Arlo. D’you think it’ll be good enough for Avery?”   
He waltzed out the door without waiting for a response. The sound of the latch clicking shut rang through Arlo’s head as he sat in silence.  
 _I…  
I guess I don’t know._  
\---  
Two days had trickled by, slow and thoughtful. Arlo sat in the lobby, lifting a small weight with his good arm so he could feel as though he was being productive. His mind, however, was elsewhere; it was at the workshop with Avery. Avery and his vulnerabilities, his strengths. His arms, his humor, his smirk, his eyes. The sound of the door opening brought Arlo back into the moment, and his eyes snapped over to see Remington at the commission board again.   
“You already finish the one for Paulie?” Arlo asked, impressed. Remington smirked.   
“Yeah, I’d hardly walked in the door of the ruins when those damned things just started throwing bottles of tempering liquid at me. They must’a been out of actual ammo.” He shrugged. “Made my job easier. I just picked them up and walked back out.” Arlo chuckled.   
“We’d better keep our wits, then, if they’re changing up their tactics…”   
“Right, right. Next time, I’ll bring a basket to catch the bottles in.” A moment of quiet passed, interrupted by the sound of Remington tearing another piece of paper from the board. He pursed his lips and turned to face Arlo. “Hey, have you talked to Avery yet?” Arlo’s heart stuttered in his chest and he set the small weight down.  
“I… no, not yet, why?” He asked. Remington shrugged.   
“Just… curious. He put a commission on the board.” He waved the paper in his hand vaguely in Arlo’s direction. “He needs some tempering liquid, too… I got enough to fill this right away.” Arlo perked up and walked over, looking at the form filled with Avery’s distinct scrawl. He pursed his lips.   
“Uh, do you… do you want me to take it in for you? I won’t take credit for it,” he offered. Remington raised his eyebrows and smiled.   
“I think that’s a _wonderful_ idea, actually,” he agreed, handing the paper to Arlo. He swung his backpack around and began rummaging through it, pulling out the five bottles requested by Avery and setting them on the table. “You going to bring the knot?” he asked. Arlo huffed.   
“I actually… I think I have a plan, now,” he admitted. “So I won’t need it today, but… I’ll get the wheels turning.” Remington clapped him on the back, a shining smile in place.   
“Atta boy!” he chirped. Arlo found his excitement contagious, and he quickly slid the tempering liquid into his bag with a grin.   
\---  
Avery was not in such a good mood.   
He held his tongs in both hands, clamping down on the hardly-cooled bar of carbon steel and carefully moving it into the metal bucket at his feet. Usually, he’d wait for them to be only warm to the touch, but today he was restless.   
He couldn’t stop thinking about Arlo. He was sure that he’d feel better once he’d had a chance to talk it all out with Alice and Emily, but their weekly meeting wasn’t until the evening, and the sun hovered stubbornly above his head. He needed to tell them what happened when Arlo helped him, what they said, what Arlo did- he was still reeling from being lifted twice in one day, the hugs, the hands in his hair. Avery groaned and rubbed tiredly at his face with the back of a gloved hand.   
_I just need to calm down,_ he knew. He picked the tongs back up, carefully clamping them around another hot ingot and transferring it into the bucket. _He was just being nice- he was being a good friend, and I’m all tied up in knots over it._ He grabbed the handle of the bucket and maneuvered the wheels of his chair over to the grinder. _Besides, even if he was into me…_ He began to fiddle with the settings on the machine before turning it on and grabbing his tongs again. He had a hard time using the grinder without remembering how Arlo had caught him, held him, and lifted him just on the other side of the machine. He closed his eyes and huffed out a bitter sigh. _Even if he was into me, he’s only going to leave._ He picked up the ingots from the bucket, dropping them into the processor harder than was necessary. _Everybody always--_  
“Avery!”   
Avery jolted, fumbling and nearly dropping the tongs in his hands before setting them in the bucket. He turned in his chair and saw Arlo coming through the front gate. His heart swelled and dropped at the same time, and he pulled a casual smile onto his face.   
“Arlo!” he said, voice cracking slightly. “What are you doing here?” Arlo met him where he was and pulled open his bag, unloading, one by one, five bottles of tempering liquid. Avery blinked. “My commission?” he asked, uncertain. Arlo nodded.   
“Yep! I didn’t fill it, obviously, I can’t go into the ruins. Remington did. I offered to deliver it for him.” Avery took the offered bottles and wheeled over to his boxes, flipping one open and depositing them there.   
“Thank you so much,” Avery said with a smile. “Why’d you come, though?” he asked. Arlo looked caught off guard.   
“Oh, uh- well, I get bored at the Corps when I can’t take commissions or go into any of the ruins,” he admitted. “And… I wanted to see you.” Avery sat up straighter in his chair.   
“Oh?” he said, voice higher than usual.   
“Yeah, I was wondering- have you had a follow-up appointment with Xu yet? I just saw him yesterday, and he said I can probably have my arm back in a couple days,” he told him, picking at his brace excitedly. Avery nodded.   
“I just saw him this morning, he said we’d try taking my cast off on Monday. Why, though?” he asked. Arlo grinned and leaned against a slumbering machine.   
“Let’s go on a little adventure when we can,” he proposed. Avery felt his cheeks flushing.   
“An… adventure? What kind of adventure?”   
“You know, a mysterious cave, some monsters. I never found my way to the end, so I don’t know what they were guarding, but it must be something cool… you know, some good old fashioned spelunking.” Avery burst out laughing and shot him a sly look, devious grin in place.   
“Gee, spelunking, huh? Buy me dinner first.” He turned and rolled back to his work table, laughing to himself, leaving Arlo blushing and laughing in embarrassment in his wake. _Right. Flirty jokes. Avery has always done this. … Wonder if they’ve ever been jokes._ Avery rustled some papers on his table, rummaging for a blueprint or two. “I’m not sure that I can, though,” he admitted. “I’m… pretty behind on commissions. Once I’m back on my feet, I’ll be busy catching up for a while.” Arlo scoffed as he trailed behind him, leaning up against the table.   
“You shouldn’t just jump back in once you get your leg back, Ave, you’ll overwork yourself. You should build up over time, so you don’t get overwhelmed.” Avery sighed and looked at all of the papers scattered in front of him. Arlo grinned. “...And so we can go spelunking.” Avery huffed out a laugh before closing his eyes for a moment.   
“You just wanted to say spelunking again,” he said. Arlo hummed.   
“Guilty.”   
When Avery opened his eyes again, a soft yet determined shine had replaced the look of resignation. “When you put it that way… it’s a date.” Arlo’s face split into a shining smile and he reached forward to ruffle Avery’s hair, much to his chagrin.   
“Awesome. Let me know when you’re feeling less frail and we’ll make it happen.”   
Avery watched him go with a sad but hopelessly fond look in his eyes. He couldn’t even find the fight in him to complain about his hair being messed up. He groaned and laid his head on the work table. _I am so screwed._  
\---  
“Guys, I have something to talk about,” Avery groaned as he flopped dramatically onto his couch. Alice perched in his recliner as Emily threw his legs out of the way to sit beside him.   
“I’m assuming this is something about your day with Arlo?” she asked innocently. He whipped his head around to look at her, surprised.   
“How did you know about that…?” he asked. She shrugged.   
“I was right across the road, dude. I would have to be blind to not notice that he was at your workshop, like, all day.” Alice hummed.   
“Maybe I should spend more time at the farm,” she mused. Avery smirked.   
“You guys are stalkers. But, yeah, the other day I was working and I got dizzy, and Arlo came by and he was all, ‘woah you need to stop you’re overworking yourself’ and I was all, ‘no I have to finish my commission’, and instead of just arguing with me, he stayed with me… _all day_ … and helped me finish it.” Alice sighed dreamily.   
“That’s so _sweet_ ,” she swooned. Emily nodded.   
“It really is, but… aren’t you trying to get over him?” she asked, a nervous quirk to her brows. Avery sighed deeply.   
“I am, I swear, but he’s making it really hard. Every time I think I’m moving on, he says something or does something that just… yanks on all of my heartstrings. Like, when I got really weak, he carried me inside. When we were waiting for some metals to cool, I told him about my dad, and he hugged me. He’s just- drowning me. Every time I think I’m catching my breath…”   
“You're back underwater?” supplied Alice. He nodded.  
“Yeah. Back underwater.” He rubbed a hand down his face and propped his chin on his palm. Emily’s hand fell between his shoulder blades and rubbed soft circles there.   
“You’ll catch your breath one day,” she reassured him. He grinned.   
“We’ll see, I guess.”   
\---  
After getting his cast removed, Avery's legs had been… delicate, for a while, but he was adamantly against using a cane. “I’ll never be able to walk on them if I never start,” he insisted.   
He just sat down a lot more than other people. He tired out quickly. He took small commissions, or heftier ones with plenty of wiggle room in their deadlines. He took life slow and for once he was okay with it, because he knew each step was a step forward, no matter how unsteady. He built a few stools and stashed them around the work yard for impromptu seating, in case he felt faint, but he was recovering well and fast.   
“Except for the arms,” Xu had told him. “I mean, no damage to their movement, it seems, but…” he placed a hand on Avery’s bicep, and Avery felt the pressure, but not the touch. “I don’t think that’s coming back.”   
But it was fine. Who needs touch? As long as he could use his arms, he was content with how he’d healed.   
… He did, however, catch himself crossing his arms a lot more since the bandages were removed, mindlessly gripping or poking or tracing lines across the skin he could not feel. It was… eerie. Like dissociation, but physical. It would take some getting used to.   
He ignored his arms in favor of his legs. He stood when he could have sat down to eat, he took walks instead of sitting in place and reading, he started working out again. Sure, every now and then his leg would give out. But it had only happened four times in the week since he’d gotten his leg back- less than once a day. That was good, by his count.   
He had decided not to take the dee-dee to Xu’s clinic. He walked through the plaza, and up the stairs, and up the sloping pathways, because he could. His legs ached afterward, and maybe there was a tremble, but even then he’d never felt more powerful. He strode through the doors of the clinic proudly before finding the nearest chair to collapse into. Xu eyed him warily from his desk.   
“You walked here, didn’t you?” he asked, voice tired. Avery grinned sheepishly.   
“What can I say? Trying to get my strength back.” Xu stood, adjusting his glasses as he flipped through some papers.   
“It’ll take even longer if you go injuring yourself again. Just keep that in mind.” Avery pursed his lips, knowing Xu was right. He found the page he’d been looking for and squinted as he scanned it. “So you want me to clear you for ruin diving?” he asked, skeptical. Avery nodded.   
“I mean, I’m not planning on going ruin diving any time soon- I want to go fight some monsters in a cave. I figured the clearance would be the same.” Xu snorted.   
“You figured right. We use these protocols for the Corps members all the time when they’re injured. So, why don’t you hop up onto this bed here so I can take a better look at your knee?”   
\---  
Arlo stretched his arms above his head- both of his arms- and swung them by his sides, still getting used to the freedom of motion. He resumed position and aimed another jab at the training dummy in front of him, trying to work the residual soreness out of his arm.   
It wasn’t the doors opening that tore his attention away, no. It was the guttural howl of his name- “ARLOOOOO!” - that made him whip his head around in alarm. Avery stood in the doorway. “Guess who just got cleared to go spelunking!” he exclaimed, arms tossed in the air. Arlo’s face split into a smile as the tension relaxed from his shoulders. Avery walked towards him, confident in his steps until his leg jerked and he stumbled forward with a surprised “whoop!”. Arlo caught him under the arms, steadying him before letting go.   
“Sure hope it wasn’t you,” he joked. Avery rolled his eyes.   
“Okay, so I’m clear to go… in a few days. As long as I stay rested the whole time until then.” Arlo grinned.   
“That’ll be so difficult for you, I can already tell.” Avery pouted.   
“I know, right? I’ve got these new legs, I wanna use them!” Arlo laughed.   
“But, is that when we want to go? In a few days?” Avery nodded.   
“Yeah, I’m going stir crazy. As soon as possible.” Arlo ruffled his hair and Avery shrieked, backing away. “Will you quit it with my hair?” he whined, pushing it into place again. Their eyes met and Arlo’s smirk sent a jolt down Avery’s spine.   
“Not if you keep reacting like that, no.”   
Avery clammed up, cheeks red, and the pause between them grew _just_ long enough to feel significant. “Anyways, I have to- ah, I have to stop by the commission guild,” Avery stuttered, glancing back over his shoulder. Arlo smirked and walked past him, patting him gently on the arm as he passed.   
“I’ll see you Saturday, then.”   
Avery couldn’t feel the touch of Arlo’s hand, the rough palm that he knew was there, but he felt the tingle and warmth under his skin all the same. He trailed his own fingers over the spot, hoping to let the feeling linger, but it faded under his fingertips.   
“Ah, yeah,” he mumbled, “Saturday.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys... I have the fic written. I did it. The rest is in a google doc, awaiting beta-ing by my lovely pal lily and some finishing touches. I'm so proud of myself, and I'm so thankful to all of you for keeping me motivated through this, even when I went months without updating.   
> I'll save the rest of the sappiness for the endnotes on the last chapter. I'm just kind of emotional about this right now lmao.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!! Pretty please leave a comment below letting me know your thoughts <3  
> Any theories about how this will end? Who will confess? Where? When? Drop it in a comment or send me an ask over at aviaryworkshop on tumblr! <3


	12. something like hope

Avery pulled in a cold breath through his nose, huffing it out and watching his breath turn to steam. He hefted his new sword in his hand, turning it and looking down the edge, checking for imperfections. The early morning sun reflected down the blade, revealing no nicks or dents. He eyed the training dummy in front of him and pulled his arm back, swinging into it with a _thunk. Good weight, good balance._ He pulled the sword out and checked the edge; no damage. He grinned. _Nice._  
His toes were cold in his boots. Winter was settling in fast, and while Avery generally avoided spending too much time in the snow, he wasn’t about to start swinging a sword around in his house. He’d been too nervous to even do it in the yard until he’d moved some machines and saw Scraps leave for town. He took position to swing again when-  
“Looking good, Ave.”  
Avery jolted, nearly fumbling his grip on the blade. He spun around and saw Arlo sitting on his fence, a small smile in place. He felt a flush crawling up his neck immediately. _It’s too early for this,_ he cursed himself. “You feeling up to it?” Arlo continued. Avery looked down at his legs and bounced a bit; they didn’t hurt, for one, and his leg hadn’t given out since he fell on Arlo. He looked back and nodded.  
“Yeah, I’m feeling pretty stable. And they’ve been holding up when I work out, so I think they can handle it.” Arlo grinned, head cocked to the side.  
“I’m glad to hear it. So tomorrow, right?” Avery nodded, and Arlo’s gaze drifted to the sword in his hand. He whistled. “That new?” he asked. Avery perked up.  
“Yeah! I just finished working on it last night- I wanted it ready for our little adventure.” He fiddled with it in his hands before sliding it back into the sheath on his hip. “I- here, there’s something I want to show you,” he said, not meeting Arlo’s eyes. He walked further back into the yard, towards the work table, and Arlo hopped the fence to follow him.  
“What’s up?” Arlo asked when they stopped. Avery was clearly holding something to his chest so Arlo couldn’t see it. He glanced over his shoulder.  
“Close your eyes and hold out your hands.” Arlo blinked.  
“Wait, why-”  
“Just do it!” He closed his eyes and cupped his hands out together. Avery huffed out a laugh and he heard him set down whatever he was holding on the table.  
“Not like that…” he chided, taking Arlo’s hands and pulling them further apart. His hands were calloused but his touch was delicate, and Arlo resisted the urge to close his hands around Avery’s to see his reaction. Once Avery was satisfied with his hand placement, he fumbled around with whatever he’d set down and placed it gently into Arlo’s palms. It was something long and thin, and he hefted it gently. It was weighty. “Okay,” Avery said in a hushed voice. “You can open your eyes.”  
A sword, different from the one on Avery's hip, rested in his hands. The pitch-black sheath was smooth, and the complex black and orange hilt eyecatching. He pulled it out of the cover slightly, marveling at the blade within. “Avery,” he said, hardly louder than a whisper. “This is sick.” Avery smiled triumphantly, but Arlo could still tell he was nervous.  
“It’s yours if you want it.” Arlo’s eyebrows shot up.  
“Wait- you’re serious?” Avery nodded.  
“Yeah, as thanks for everything.” Arlo took a few steps back and pulled it out of the sheath fully, eyeing the shape of the blade and giving it a swing.  
“Where did you even get this?” he wondered out loud. Avery huffed, a smug look sliding into place.  
“I made it, silly. Blood, sweat, tears, the works.” Arlo looked up from the blade to Avery, locking eyes, a look of wonder on his face.  
“And you’re just _giving it away_?” Avery rolled his eyes and pulled his arms to his chest.  
“It’s not just giving it away… it’s a gift. A thank you gift. Besides, if I kept it, it would just get thrown up over the mantle- I’m not using it anymore now that I have my new one.” Arlo’s eyes slid down the length of the blade again, noticing the minimal damage even after Avery’s use. “I think we can agree it’s too nice of a sword to just sit and gather dust.” Arlo fumbled with the sheath, hooking it to his belt, and slid the sword into place.  
It felt... right.  
He strode over to Avery, sliding his arms around his middle and lifting him into the air in a tight hug. Avery yelped, but his protests dissolved into laughter as Arlo spun him around the yard. He set Avery down and gave him one more squeeze.  
“Thank you, Avery.” The look Avery gave him was so tender that he felt his heart swell. His ice-blue eyes were warm, cheeks flushed, lip pulled between teeth in that damned grin, and he found himself staring at Avery’s lips. He could just lean in now, seal the deal, damn the plan-  
“Of course. I have to finish up a commission before we leave, though, so I should get working on that,” Avery sighed. Arlo loosened his grip and took a step back, flushing up to his ears.  
“I- right, of course. I’ll let you get to work, then. I’ll be here around noon tomorrow?” Avery nodded and patted his cheek.  
“Don’t be late.”  
\---  
Arlo entered the Civil Corps with a bounce in his step and a small smile on his face. Sam looked up from the commission board and grinned.  
“Someone’s in a good mood,” she pointed out. He huffed.  
“How astute of you.” She blinked.  
“...Astute?” she asked. He shrugged.  
“I think it means observant. I heard Merlin say it the other day and I’ve been trying to find a time to use it.” She laughed and pocketed the commission sheet in her hand.  
“What’s got you so perky, then?”  
“Yeah, Arlo, what in the world could it be?” Arlo looked over and saw Remington lounging on the couches, newspaper in hand. He flushed lightly and Remington shook his head. “You know Sam won’t make fun of you, right?” Arlo glanced back at Sam, who looked confused.  
“Wait, what? Are you keeping me out of the loop on something here?” she asked, crossing her arms. Arlo groaned.  
“Oh, come on, it’s not that big a deal,” he complained. Sam stomped her foot.  
“I’ll make it a big deal, then,” she challenged. Arlo rolled his eyes.  
“Urgh, fine.” He crossed his arms and fixed his eyes on the wall. “I’m going on a date with Avery tomorrow.” Sam’s sharp gasp was the only warning he got before she slammed into him, wrapping her arms around him like a vice.  
“Oh, _shit_!” she shrieked. “No way! I never thought it would actually happen!” He felt himself start to smile, even through the embarrassment. “So who asked who out? Where you going?” She demanded. He groaned.  
“I mean - okay, we haven’t called it a date yet,” he clarified. He thought back. “Well, Avery did, but I think he was kidding. But it… _will_ be a date. I’m going to talk to him about some stuff.” Remington smiled up at him.  
“Look at you, big kid, using your words.” Arlo grimaced at him, but Sam smacked his arm impatiently.  
“Where are you taking him?”  
“We’re going on a little adventure, gonna clear some slurpees out of a cave and see what they’re guarding.” She rolled her eyes.  
“That’s not romantic,” she groaned, but Remington shrugged.  
“I thought it seemed just right for them,” he countered. Sam thought about it before tilting her head to the side.  
“No, you’re right, actually.” She looked back to Arlo and grinned. “So, are you nervous?” she asked. The bunch of nerves in his chest that he’d been ignoring flared up. He considered denying it, playing it cool, but…  
“Uh… yeah, actually,” he admitted. Remington shot him a look.  
“Why? You know he’ll say yes.” Sam raised an eyebrow.  
“You do?” Remington waved a hand.  
“Long story.” She nodded. Arlo dragged a hand down his face.  
“I think that’s why I’m nervous, actually. By the end of tomorrow, I’ll likely be in a relationship.” Remington still looked confused, but Sam shrugged.  
“Makes sense. Flying Pigs and all.” Arlo nodded.  
“Exactly. I’m not…” he looked down at the floor. “I’m still not sure it’s the right thing to do, you know?” Remington looked puzzled, but Sam waved it off.  
“Dude, if you want to date Avery, and you know you’re going to leave eventually, doesn’t that mean you should see him now, while you still can?” Arlo opened his mouth and found that he had nothing to say. He closed it and puzzled over that.  
“When… when did you get all wise and insightful?” he asked, an eyebrow raised. She laughed and smacked him in the arm.  
“Oh, shut it. You should have told me about this sooner.” He leaned against the wall and sighed.  
“Yeah, probably.”  
The door slid open and the three of them turned to see Avery walking in. He smiled and waved, and Arlo returned the wave with a small smile. He stopped by the commission board and grabbed a blank form, filling it out at the table. Sam and Remington stared at Arlo. Arlo went between staring at Avery and watching his feet. Eventually, Avery broke the silence.  
“I feel like I interrupted something,” he said with a nervous laugh as he pinned his paper to the board. Arlo smirked.  
“Nothing important. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Avery waved again and was off. The door closed behind him, and Arlo immediately closed his eyes. “Don’t start,” he warned them.  
“You’re blushing,” Sam pointed out with a smirk.  
“I said don’t-”  
\---  
He wasn’t late. He was early, in fact, turning up to Avery’s workshop at 11:52 with the sword on his hip and the knot in his pocket. He was nervous, but… excited. Very excited. He knocked on the door and heard a muffled commotion from the other side. Avery’s voice called him in, and he opened the door to see Avery quickly stuffing all matters of foods and medicines into his bag. Arlo laughed.  
“You’re early,” Avery whined.  
“Hardly,” Arlo retorted.  
“Sorry, I just got back from returning that commission. I just have to grab a couple more things..” He swung the bag onto his back and retreated into the side room, rummaging around for a moment more.  
When he returned, his new sword hung on one hip, and a gun holster on the other. Arlo’s eyebrows shot up as Avery grinned and pulled the large gun from his hip.  
“What have you got there?” Arlo asked.  
“Found some blueprints for a triple barrel snakebite in the sewage plant,” he explained. “Built it earlier this week out of curiosity… figured I’d give it a proper field test today.”  
“Well, we’d better get going, then.”  
“We’d better.”  
\---  
The dee-dee ride into the desert was quick, but the walk to their mystery destination more than made up for that. Avery scanned the span of cliff face ahead of them, spotting no sign of the cave that Arlo had mentioned.  
“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” he asked. Arlo nodded.  
“Certain. Don’t worry, we’re not far.”  
“But there’s nothing there-”  
“There is, you just can’t see it until you’re up close.” Avery furrowed his brows.  
“Wait, what?” Arlo smirked at him but didn’t respond.  
Avery dropped the matter with a sigh and a shrug and they walked on in comfortable silence. Every now and then, their shoulders bumped or the backs of their hands grazed the other’s, sending small sparks of warmth glittering under their layers of winter gear. They were both careful to pretend it was an accident.  
\---  
The entrance was just as hidden as Arlo had described it. Two large boulders rested against the face of the cliff, and if you squeezed between them you would find a large, human-sized crack in the rock. Avery ran his hands along it.  
“Oh, this… this is sick,” he breathed. “I never would have found it if you hadn’t shown me.” Arlo hummed.  
“I hid from Remington here once, just to mess with him. That’s when I found it.” Avery laughed.  
“You’re a sneak.”  
“Guilty.”  
“Alright,” Avery said, hand on the hilt of his sword. A glint shone in his eyes as he smirked. “Let’s get in this crack.” He dove in, and Arlo had no choice but to smother his laughter as he followed.  
\---  
The cave seemed natural, by Avery’s observations. It wasn’t very structured and alternated between large cavernous rooms and narrow paths that they could hardly squeak through sideways. He leaned against a wall, eyeing the stalactites above them as Arlo dealt with the last slurpee in the room. _Sure hope those don’t fall._ He looked down just in time to see Arlo knock the blue monster out with a kick to the head. He whistled and clapped slowly.  
“Nice shot,” he said with a grin. “You mind taking a breather? Just for some water.” Arlo nodded and Avery slid down the wall, sitting at the base, as he walked over to join him.  
They sat and sipped in silence, listening to the sounds echoing through the tunnels ahead. There was the occasional drip, every now and then a squawk from a slurpee, but something was beneath the other noises. Something… like water?  
“Arlo.” Arlo raised his eyebrows.  
“What’s up?”  
“There water in here?” he asked, gesturing towards the passage ahead with his bottle. Arlo huffed out a small laugh.  
“Knew I couldn’t surprise you,” he said with a smirk. Avery’s eyes shone.  
“What, so like a river?” Arlo took a long and slow sip of his water, clearing his throat and capping the bottle before replying.  
“You could say that.”  
Avery laughed at the dramatic pause before following suit, closing his bottle and hooking it to his bag. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?” Arlo stood and held out a hand to help Avery up. As he stood, he met Arlo’s eyes.  
“You catch on fast.”  
\---  
As they passed through more open and narrow sections of the cave, the sound of water increased to near-deafening volumes. Avery groaned.  
“Fucking loud river,” he mumbled to Arlo. He didn’t reply, but Avery noticed the smile he tried to hide. His brows knit closer together, but he kept his mouth shut. Arlo put out a hand behind him and crouched slightly as another wide cavern at the end of the passage came into view. Avery placed his feet more carefully even though, with the water this loud, there was no way anything up ahead would be able to hear their footsteps. He drew his sword and held it at the ready, stopping just before the mouth of the cave and waiting for Arlo’s signal. Arlo leaned into the room silently, casting his eyes around before regarding Avery with a smile.  
“It’s clear. Take a look,” he said, raising his voice over the roar of the water. Avery blinked once in confusion before sheathing his sword and turning the corner.  
_Oh. No wonder._ There _was_ a river, fed by a large and loud _waterfall_. It toppled over a cliff of about twenty feet, crashing on the other side of the large cavern before being swept away down another tunnel and into the darkness.  
“A fucking _waterfall?_ ” he yelled. Arlo’s laugh was clearly audible over the crash of the water, and Avery looked over to see him leaning on his knees.  
“You’re actually surprised?” he cried. Avery flushed. “How loud do you think rivers are?” Avery pulled his arms to his chest and groaned.  
“Oh, I don’t know- but this!” He threw his hands towards the water. “In a cave! This is sick!” Arlo walked up and plopped a hand in Avery’s hair and he tensed, bracing for it to be messed with. Instead, Arlo just sighed.  
“Cute.” Avery’s cheeks flushed immediately, but before he could react Arlo had stepped back and taken his hand with him. He regarded the cliff off of which the waterfall poured, and the opening above it. “Reckon this is the way forward, then,” he continued, ignoring what he’d just said. Avery cleared his throat.  
“Uh, yeah, probably. I don’t…” he glanced around the cavern. “I don’t see any other ways other than the one we came, or the river.” Arlo nodded decisively.  
“Right. Up it is, then.” He looked back at Avery, a glint in his eye. “Race you?” A sparkle shone in Avery’s eye and, without responding, he shot off like a bolt towards the wall. Arlo fumbled after him, but by the time he reached the wall, Avery was off of the ground. “Hey- we didn’t count off!” he complained. Avery’s laughter bounced off of the faces of rock, coming to Arlo from every angle.  
He couldn’t help but smile.  
Even without the head start, Avery would have won- not that Arlo would admit that. He moved lighter, nimbler, scaling the wall with practiced ease.  
“You do this often?” Arlo panted, looking for another grip. Avery hummed.  
“I don’t think you want me to answer that question,” he countered from above. He reached up and gripped the top edge with a triumphant ‘ha!’. He looked down at Arlo with a cocky grin. “You coming? I’m already to the-”  
He turned as he pulled himself up, peering over the edge. He was greeted by a pair of blue feet, and he paled, looking up and meeting eyes with a very angry slurpee.  
“Oh, fuck.”  
It squawked and reeled back, readying a shot. He tried to be evasive, leaning back from the wall and throwing his weight to one side, but the blast of boiling water grazed his left arm. His fingers slipped from the damp rocks and he felt his heart leap into his throat, unable to make another sound.  
By the time he fell past Arlo, Arlo had already let go of the wall.  
He kicked off from the stone and wrapped his arms tight around Avery midair. Avery grunted loudly as the wind was knocked out of him, and again as they hit the ground, rolling several feet before stopping. He groaned, disoriented, but grabbed at his left hip for the yet-unused gun. He looked up at the slurpee preparing another shot from the top of the wall and tried to focus his spinning vision.  
_Bang._  
Bang.  
The slurpee fell back, and Avery dropped his arm. He shuddered out a breath and closed his eyes for a moment to ground himself before taking stock of the situation. Nothing felt broken. Bruised, yes, everything felt bruised, but not broken.  
It took him a moment to notice the weight on top of him, and he opened his eyes.  
_Oh._  
It was Arlo.  
His eyes widened and his cheeks flared red as he realized that Arlo was _on top of him_ , arms on either side of his head, hovering very close. Avery gulped.  
“Uh, hi there,” he tried, and Arlo grinned.  
“Nice aim.”  
“Thanks. I’ve been practicing,” he said, trying to keep his cool. Arlo lifted a hand and patted him gently on the cheek. It sent a tingle down his neck.  
“It shows,” he mumbled, grinning, before rolling off of him and sitting beside him on the ground. Avery laid on the ground for a moment longer, unmoving, internally screaming. Slowly, he propped himself up on his elbows. Arlo looked worried. “You alright? Hit your head or anything?” Avery reached back and prodded around his scalp, but nothing hurt too badly.  
“I think I’m alright. You?” Arlo waved him off.  
“Oh, I’m fine. I think you hit the ground first.” His eyes went soft and he briefly took Avery’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “I’m glad you’re alright. Can’t have you getting hurt again so soon.” He dropped the hand and stood as quickly as he’d taken it, and Avery clenched his fist in his absence, trying to trap the warmth. Slowly, he brought himself to his feet.  
“Thank you,” he groaned, feeling the bruises settling in. “I’d have been all busted up if you hadn’t jumped for it.” Arlo smiled, and there was something warm and unguarded in his eyes that caught Avery off balance.  
“Any time, Ave.” He gestured back to the wall. “Now… shall we?” Avery nodded slowly.  
“I… yeah. We shall.” He glanced back at Arlo once as he approached the wall, holding his eyes just too long to be casual, with something like hope blooming in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> only one more chapter after this ;)   
> let me know your thoughts and feelings in a comment below! subscribe to me or bookmark this story to get an email when I post the final chapter! I hope you're all enjoying this story as much as i've enjoyed writing it <3


	13. fingers tangled

There were no other slurpees at the top of the cliff. Avery glanced around, confused.  
“How’d that bastard even get up here?” he wondered out loud. “I don’t see… Arlo, I think this is a dead end.” Arlo grunted as he crested the wall, taking Avery’s hand to help him over the edge.  
“It’s not,” he panted, stumbling to his feet. Avery tilted his head expectantly.  
“Where’s the way through, then?” Arlo waved him off, catching his breath.  
“I do _not_ climb often enough,” he groaned, and Avery laughed. “How are you so quick about it?”  
Avery pretended not to hear him.  
“You’re not going to tell me, then?” Avery met his eyes with a sly grin.  
“You catch on fast.” Arlo rolled his eyes.  
“Well, before we keep going, let’s take a look at your arm.” Avery stared at him blankly.  
“My… arm?” he mumbled, glancing at it. Sure, his sleeve was damp, but… Arlo nodded.  
“Yeah, that slurpee got you pretty good, didn’t it?” When Avery didn’t react, Arlo sighed. “Just let me take a look.” Avery gulped and began removing his jacket, clearly confused. Arlo took his arm gruffly in his hand, rolling back the sleeve of his snug turtleneck, but his touch softened and slowed as the scars from the electricity burns came into view. “I, uh,” he mumbled. “I forgot about these.” He trailed his fingers gently over the erratic lines as he rolled the sleeve further, a large red splotch on his upper bicep coming into view. Avery hissed a breath in between his teeth and Arlo froze. “Did that hurt?” he asked, eyes trained on Avery’s face. Avery pursed his lips.  
“No. I was just surprised.” Arlo paused before nodding and tucking the sleeve up over his shoulder.  
“Here, let me just-” he sat down and took off his bag, gesturing for Avery to do the same, and rummaged until he found a small jar and a roll of bandages. He uncapped the jar with a pop, scooping up a small blob of gel and smearing it onto the red skin. He met Avery’s eyes. “Still not hurting you?” he checked. Avery shook his head.  
“No, I can’t feel it.” Arlo’s brows furrowed.  
“How can you not…?” he asked, leaving the end open. Avery was quiet, and Arlo sighed as he reached for the roll of bandages. He wrapped the gelled burn and secured the bandage before tucking away the medical supplies.  
“I got some nerve damage,” Avery finally said. “From the electricity, when that relic got me. I can’t really feel much in my arms anymore.” Arlo paused before gently touching Avery’s forearm.  
“So you can’t feel this?” he asked. Avery shrugged.  
“I mean, the pressure, kind of. But not the touch.” Arlo hummed.  
“That must be weird.” He gingerly took the rolled-up sleeve and began pulling it back down over Avery’s arm, careful not to put pressure on the burn even if Avery wouldn’t notice the difference.  
He did.  
If he hadn’t been looking from the corner of his eye, he would have missed the way that Arlo traced the scars with his fingertips as he covered them. It felt… weird. Not his arm, but his chest. The familiar flush crept up his neck, but rather than noticing it with the usual indignation, surprise, or embarrassment, a tired sort of resignation wound itself in with his infatuation. He met Arlo’s eyes with a slight smile, and the returning grin pulled on all of the heartstrings he’d been trying to cut for months. They were much stronger than he was, and at this point…  
He was ready to accept that.  
Avery sighed and dropped his gaze as Arlo released his arm, picking up his jacket and tugging it back on. “Thank you,” he said. Arlo nodded with a worried glance.  
“Of course, Ave. You alright? I mean, it’s just… some nerves. At least it’s not in your hands.” Avery smiled slightly at Arlo’s misguided support.  
“No, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just weird, I’m not used to it yet.” He pulled the fluffy hood of his jacket closer around his neck, hoping it would help to hide the flushed skin. Arlo climbed to his feet, and Avery’s eyes followed him.  
“Alright, well, we’re almost there.” Avery cocked his head to the side.  
“Where?”  
“The end.” Avery furrowed his brows.  
“I thought you never made it to the end?” he said, eyeing him carefully. Arlo smiled proudly.  
“I lied.” Avery’s jaw dropped and he scoffed.  
“Uh, _rude_!” he exclaimed. Arlo waved a dismissive hand.  
“Nothing malicious, Ave. I just wanted you to be as surprised as possible.” Avery felt a fond look creeping onto his face.  
“That’s… sweet, I guess,” he conceded.  
“I think you’ll love it. I haven’t, actually, uh… I haven’t actually brought anyone else here, or even told anyone else. But I wanted to share it with you.” Their eyes met, both blushing, both uncertain, but…  
Both hopeful.  
Arlo held a hand out to him. “So let’s go?” he asked. Avery took his hand and stood, nearly bumping chests with Arlo.  
“Yeah, let’s.”  
Arlo turned and started walking towards the fast river, only ten feet- if that - from the waterfall. Avery reached forward and grabbed his arm.  
“I- wait, hold up, where are you going?” he asked, concerned. Arlo smiled and shook his arm off.  
“Don’t worry, there’s a safe spot to cross. We just have to follow it back a little ways.” Avery followed him skeptically, but sure enough, some stepping stones parted the water upstream. Arlo crossed them nonchalantly, and Avery took his sweet time, nervous of the foam bubbling up from the stream. Arlo was waiting for him on the other side, holding out a hand. Avery smiled and took it as he stepped back onto dry land.  
“So where to-?” he started, but stopped when he looked upstream. A boulder leaning against the cavern wall had obscured it from the opposite bank, but from this side of the water, he saw it - a way forward. The river gushed from an opening in the wall, and natural light poured through it just as fiercely as the water; a dazzling gleam, far underground. “Oh,” Avery breathed, jaw dropped. Arlo smiled and nudged him against the small of his back.  
“You first.” Avery nodded, noticing the stepping stones continued through this hole in the wall, and gingerly stepped back onto the water. He padded gently through the opening, ducking under the low overhang, and when he righted himself he was struck still. The cave was tremendously tall, and genuine sunlight shone through a large opening at the top. The light filtered through the leaves of a large tree in the center of the cavern and bounced off of the water, throwing light onto the rock walls and dazzling Avery’s eyes.  
“No way,” he murmured. Arlo’s hand landed on his shoulder and Avery started, not realizing how close behind him he’d been.  
“Way.” Arlo looked sideways at Avery, at the wonderstruck look in his eyes, at the light dancing on his cheeks, and-  
_Lights, I’m in love._  
He turned to look at the scenery, his cheeks burning red and a dull ache in his chest. He surreptitiously patted his pocket, affirming that the heart knot was still there before he stepped past Avery and onto the only outcrop of dry land in reach. He sat on a ledge, legs dangling over the water, and Avery joined him moments later. He sat close- their thighs brushed against one another, and if Arlo just casually set his hand between them, he might brush-  
“This is amazing,” Avery choked out, eyes still caught in the light on the leaves. “I should have brought my camera.” Arlo smiled fondly.  
The knot in his pocket felt much heavier than it was. No matter how he sat, he could feel it pressing into his leg, burning a hole in his pocket.  
_Just… tell him,_ he told himself. _Bring it up. Ask about it._ His hand twitched towards his pocket but stopped short. _Just say something-_  
“You alright?” Arlo tore his gaze from his hand up to Avery, who looked concerned. Arlo nodded quickly- maybe too quickly.  
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I’m just…” he looked down at the water, spotting the fish swirling under his feet. “I’m just overthinking some stuff.” Avery cocked his head to the side.  
“Do you… want to talk about it?” he offered. Arlo looked at him, a _‘no, I’m fine’_ ready on his tongue, but…  
Maybe it was the look in Avery’s eyes, maybe it was the hand drifting towards his, maybe it was the knot in his pocket, maybe it was the strong pull in his chest.  
“I… you know what? Uh- sure, just… give me a second.” As he gathered his thoughts, Avery nodded and looked over the water. He was content to wait.  
It took him a minute. Every time he thought he had found a good place to start, another detail would drift in and muddle it. He got frustrated and groaned. _I’ll just be direct and to the point,_ he decided, and he sat up and puffed out his chest.  
“Avery,” he started, but then Avery met his eyes and his resolve melted into a puddle of nerves. “I- well, it’s…” his jaw stopped and his voice bounced weakly from the rock walls. Avery cocked his head slightly, his eyes warm and inviting. He swallowed.  
“It’s about you.”  
Blue eyes widened a fraction, frozen in the moment as Arlo’s voice echoed out and dissolved into silence.  
“What?” Avery breathed, voice barely above a whisper. Arlo groaned and buried his face in his hands.  
“I… I lied to you a while back,” he admitted. “About the night in the hospital.”  
Avery had all but stopped breathing, eyes fixed on Arlo’s hair as he avoided meeting his eyes.  
_Oh, lights._  
Avery tried to shake off the nerves bubbling through his chest. He forced a laugh, and it almost sounded genuine. “Oh, did I… say something weird while I was high?” he tried. _That’s casual, right?_ Arlo could hear the panic rising in his voice, and he knew that Avery at least suspected what he’d done.  
“No, but… you gave me something.” Avery’s head whipped forward and his eyes riveted onto the trunk of the tree. _How do I get out of this?_ He wondered. He racked his brain for a joke to diffuse the tension, an intricate lie to save his ass, just something that could to salvage the situation, get them off of this teetering edge and back into comfortable territory. And yet, as soon as he opened his mouth -  
“It was the heart knot, wasn’t it?”  
\- the truth came out instead.  
He closed his eyes tight, bracing for whatever happened next.  
“...Yeah. You told me it was for me.” Avery shuddered out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. _Lie to him. It was a mistake. What do I even say to get out of this?_  
“I…” he started.  
He did not finish.  
“I just…” he tried again. His jaw hung open, but nothing more came forward. He closed his eyes and sighed, finally admitting defeat.  
“Arlo, I’m so sorry,” he rushed, leaning his head into his hands. “I shouldn’t- I shouldn’t have put you in that situation, I was so high, my filter was gone, and I-”  
“Wait, why are you apologizing?”  
Avery stopped his tirade and his eyes opened again. He was alarmed to find himself tearing up, but he met Arlo’s questioning look. _“Why?”_ he checked, and Arlo nodded. Avery rubbed a hand down his face. “Arlo, you- lights, you’re one of my best friends, I didn’t want to go throwing a wrench into things just because- because… well, you know why.” A long breath shook out of him.  
“You mean so much to me,” he admitted, feeling raw, vulnerable, and scared, but-  
Arlo laughed. Quiet and gentle.  
“I mean, clearly,” he pointed out with a grin. Avery looked at him again, stunned by the change in tone. It took him a moment to process the joke before he laughed weakly.  
“Come on, don’t tease me,” he groaned. Arlo leaned back a little, watching the lights sway on the rock walls around them.  
“So… is it true, then? It wasn’t just the drugs?” he asked, quiet. Avery was silent. He slowly drew his legs in closer to himself, hugging them to his chest. His voice was so quiet that Arlo nearly didn’t hear it.  
“Please don’t do this to me.” The hurt in his voice was tangible, and it sent a pang through Arlo’s chest in response.  
“Avery- please, I really need to know.”  
“Why do I have to say it again?” Avery had raised his voice, and it echoed back to them from the water. Arlo pursed his lips, realization dawning that this conversation would get nowhere fast if he didn’t clarify his intentions. He sighed and stared at the hole in the ceiling of the cavern, watching the light bounce from leaf to leaf on the tree.  
“Because I’m about to do something stupid, and I need to make sure we’ll be okay afterwards,” he admitted. Avery slowly lifted his head and turned to look at Arlo.  
For the first time, he noticed him blushing.  
“...Arlo?” he tried. Arlo closed his eyes, not knowing where to go from there. The heart knot dug into his leg and, on impulse, he reached in and grabbed it, setting it on the ground between them. He hissed out a sigh.  
“You didn’t… _actually_ give it to me,” he clarified. “You took it out and you told me about it. You told me that it was for me, but that I shouldn’t worry because you wouldn’t give it to me because you knew I wouldn’t take it. It fell on the floor, I picked it up, then Xu came in and I panicked so it went in my pocket.” His eyes were trained again on the fish by his feet. “So, I mean, really, I stole it,” he summarized. “This isn’t… this isn’t me _rejecting_ it, this is me returning stolen property. I think that’s part of my job.”  
Avery stared at the knot between them. It looked exactly the same as the last time he remembered holding it, running his thumbs over it in his room before heading out to meet Mint at the tunnel dig site. _He kept it this whole time._ He reached out slowly and traced his fingers over it, finding the spots where he’d worried at it while nervous, wondering if Arlo had fidgeted with it the same way.  
...Wondering if Arlo _felt_ the same way.  
“So,” Arlo continued, “if you’d like… you can try again.”  
The spark of hope in Avery’s chest ignited, and he looked at Arlo with a new energy bubbling into his lungs.  
“Arlo.” Arlo met his eyes slowly. “Are you interested in me? Romantically?” Arlo’s eyes widened and he smiled nervously.  
“What, you’re putting _me_ on the spot now?” he joked. Avery’s smile melted into something gentler and warmer as something dawned behind his eyes.  
“I’m about to do something stupid,” Avery echoed. “And I need to be sure… that it’s okay. With you, that is.” Arlo looked at the tree, unable to say it to Avery’s face, and he felt Avery’s fingers land lightly over his own. “With us.”  
“Avery…”  
_I love you. I’m in love with you. Both. All. Everything._  
“When you gave it to me, I’d never even… considered it. Never gave it any thought. But afterwards, I was so fixated on figuring it out, that… I don’t know that I’ve stopped thinking about you since.” Saying the words made him feel, at the same time, both heavier and lighter.  
_My heart’s been caught in my throat. Everything you do sends my head spinning. I fell so fast that I’m not even sure when it started or how._  
“I actually had to talk to Remington about it, quite a bit,” he admitted. He heard Avery laugh lightly, but he still couldn’t bring himself to look. “I told him, the morning after you told me, that I wasn’t sure how I felt. And he gave me these criteria… he asked if I wanted-” Arlo cut himself off, groaning. “This is embarrassing,” he hissed, but Avery touched his arm.  
“Go on,” he urged.  
At that point, Arlo would have moved the Earth for him had he asked.  
“He asked if I wanted to hold you, if I wanted to kiss you, and if I wanted anything more than to be beside you as your friend.” He finally turned and met Avery’s eyes.  
“And?” Avery murmured. Arlo held up one finger.  
“Yes,”  
Another finger,  
“Yes,”  
And the last,  
“And yes.”  
He held Avery’s dumbstruck gaze for a moment before he saw a tear roll down his cheek and jolted into motion once more. He brought a hand up and brushed the tear away with his thumb, but another came to replace it, and another.  
“Avery, Avery, hey, are you okay?” he asked, “Is… is this okay?” Avery nodded.  
“Of _course_ it’s okay, I’m just-” he turned his head and leaned his face further into Arlo’s hand, and Arlo pulled him against his chest. “I’m just overwhelmed, I think,” he mumbled into his jacket. He let Arlo play aimlessly with his hair for a moment before pulling back and meeting his eyes. “I just _never_ thought that- that _you_ -” he dropped his arms into his lap and sighed as Arlo brushed his hair out of his face, wiping at his cheeks gently with the edges of his sleeves. Arlo sighed and leaned forward, kissing Avery’s forehead. He pulled back slightly before cupping Avery’s jaw between two hands, tilting him up to face him fully. He ghosted to one cheek and left a kiss there, then to the other, before hovering over Avery’s lips. Avery’s eyes had fluttered shut in wait, and he held his breath.  
“Is this okay?” Arlo echoed. Avery thought about it for a moment before reaching up and pulling away one of Arlo’s hands. He backed up, giving Avery his space.  
“Just- just wait a second,” Avery stammered, blushing. Arlo nodded. Avery wiped frantically at his face. “This- tears aren’t very romantic, I just need a minute to…” He mussed with himself for a minute before deciding to make a show of it, taking off his bag and weapons and asking Arlo how his hair looked. Arlo huffed out a laugh.  
“Come here,” he said, and Avery smiled, big and unrestrained, stepping over Arlo and plopping himself directly into his lap. Arlo whistled as he wrapped his arms around Avery’s middle, and Avery threw his arms around Arlo’s neck with a coy smirk. They were both blushing furiously, and Avery laughed.  
“I can’t believe I get to do this,” he whispered, leaning in slow. Arlo closed his eyes and waited, feeling Avery’s breath ghost over his lips. A shiver raced down his spine, but Avery didn’t move.  
“Avery?” he breathed.  
Avery’s lips brushed his, and the cold of the metal piercing sent a spark of electricity through his body. He heard Avery draw in a sharp breath and finally, impatient, Arlo cupped his jaw in one hand and pulled him in, pressing warm, plush lips against his own. A low groan came from one of them- maybe both of them, nobody was keeping track- and Avery’s arms tightened around his neck. Arlo dropped his hand back to his waist, hauling Avery in closer, moving his lips, dizzy with the warmth and pressure of Avery’s body pressed against his. Avery pulled back after a moment, dragging his teeth along Arlo’s lower lip, pulling another sound from his chest. Avery grinned wickedly.  
“You brat,” Arlo rasped fondly. Avery burst out laughing and dropped his head onto his shoulder. Arlo smiled. “Hey, come back here,” he complained, but Avery burrowed his face into Arlo’s neck and breathed deeply.  
“Let me enjoy this,” he mumbled into the skin there, and Arlo shivered. Avery pulled back and set a gentle hand on Arlo’s cheek before another tear rolled down his own. Arlo’s eyebrows shot up and he lifted his hand, wiping it away with a rough thumb.  
“Avery-”  
“Sorry, sorry,” he interrupted. “I’m just… I’m so happy right now,” he breathed. Arlo paused for a moment, unsure of what to say as the swell of affection nearly suffocated him. He settled for dragging Avery in for another kiss, tears and all, fingers reaching up to tangle in lavender locks.  
\---  
By the time they reached Avery’s door, the sun had just set. Avery turned to look at Arlo, an unspoken question written in his posture.  
“So, ah,” he mumbled. “Is this… goodnight?” Arlo grinned and took his hand, lifting it and pressing a chaste kiss to his knuckles.  
“I figured you could drop off your gear here and we’d go get dinner,” he countered. Avery opened his mouth, but no sound came out, so he simply nodded.  
“That sounds… good,” he finally forced out. “Just… come in, I’ll only be a minute.”  
\---  
They sat at a booth. They’d moved the centerpiece to the corner of the table, leaning in towards one another and chatting in low voices. They passed small smiles to one another, knowing that for now, what had happened in the cave was their secret and theirs alone. Avery propped his head in one hand, chatting about whatever came to mind. He traced his free hand across the grain of the table, unsure where to put it.  
Arlo’s hand sat invitingly on the wood of the table, but Avery was very aware of all of the people around them on Saturday night, and he wasn’t sure…  
He met Arlo’s eyes, looked at his lips, knew that _he’d kissed him_ and likely would again, and still felt unsure. _Is this something he wants people to know?_ He wondered. _Can I hold his hand? Can I kiss him in public?_  
His fingers traced past Arlo’s drink, and Arlo quickly captured Avery’s fingers with his own. He threaded their fingers together on the table, a smug smile in place. Avery’s eyebrows went up for a moment before he leaned his face further into his hand, trying to hide the flush and dorky smile. He glanced around the room quickly to see if anyone had noticed-  
“Avery,” Arlo interrupted. Avery met his eyes. He slowly and deliberately lifted Avery’s hand from the table along with his and pressed a kiss to Avery’s knuckles. He grinned.  
“Let them look.”  
Avery laughed, overwhelmed in the best of ways. The night slumbered on and they paid it no notice, hearts full, cheeks flushed, and fingers tangled on the tabletop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... the end!!! Omg!!!  
> Thank you all so much for your nonstop support along the way!! Had it not been for your kind words and kudos, I never would have found the drive or inspiration to finish this, my longest fic yet <3 I'm so proud of this story and I'm so happy to share it with you all.   
> Please, please let me know your closing thoughts on this- leave a comment, send me an ask or message @aviaryworkshop on tumblr, just reach out and tell me what you're thinking! Nothing about posting a fic is more rewarding than hearing the varied ways that it resounds with people who read it.   
> And, finally... this is an unofficial announcement that I AM planning a sequel to Arlo and Avery's story! The plot is roughly sketched out in my phone memos, meaning it's quite a ways away from seeing the light of day, but it's in the works nonetheless. Comment prompt: what do you think it'll be about? Is there any unfinished business you'd like to see covered in a sequel, or maybe a oneshot? What questions are you left with at the end of this story?   
> Again- thank you all SO MUCH!!! It's been such a delight to hear from you all and to know you've all enjoyed my work. Honestly, truly, thank you for reading, thank you for being here, and I appreciate you all from the bottom of my heart. Ciao!

**Author's Note:**

> I realized, when I browsed all of the Arlo fics and found none with a male player character, that I had to change that. Meet my builder, Avery, the chaotic good pansexual with a huge heart. His workshop is called the Aviary and he has a fondness for lilac (and Arlo).  
> I love to hear from and chat with you guys- tell me your thoughts in the comments, or reach out to me on tumblr @aviaryworkshop! Subscribe to me for emails when I post a new work (like the sequel to this)!  
> 


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